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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants and plays all {{Eagleland}} tropes. Then at the end, the ad proudly announces that the beer is brewed in Germany, ''for exporty only''.
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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants and plays all {{Eagleland}} tropes. Type 1 tropes (as well as glorifying the Type 2 ones). Then at the end, the ad proudly announces that the beer is brewed in Germany, ''for exporty only''.Germany.
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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants and plays all American Patriotic tropes. Then at the end, the ad proudly announces that the beer is brewed in Germany.
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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants and plays all American Patriotic {{Eagleland}} tropes. Then at the end, the ad proudly announces that the beer is brewed in Germany.Germany, ''for exporty only''.
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* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: In addition to the [[{{FBI}} FIB]] from ''IV'', there's also the IAA serving as a stand-in for the {{CIA}}, apparently carrying on an InterserviceRivalry with the FIB.
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* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: In addition to the [[{{FBI}} FIB]] and NOOSE from ''IV'', there's also the IAA serving as a stand-in for the {{CIA}}, apparently carrying on an InterserviceRivalry with the FIB.FIB. In comparison to ''IV'', NOOSE is essentially DemotedToExtra, not playing any role in the storyline- they're pretty much just generic SWAT-types.
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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants and plays all American Patriotic tropes. Pißwasser itself is supposedly made in Germany.
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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants and plays all American Patriotic tropes. Pißwasser itself Then at the end, the ad proudly announces that the beer is supposedly made brewed in Germany.
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* MoodWhiplash: Due to the shuffle nature of the radio playback engine, the game can do this. Tammy Wynette's ''D-I-V-O-R-C-E'' playing right after Ozark Mountain Daredevils' ''If You Wanna Get To Heaven' and Chicago's ''If You Leave Me Now'' playing right after Allanah Miles' ''Black Velvet'' are just some of the examples that have happened.
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* MoodWhiplash: Due to the shuffle nature of the radio playback engine, the game can do this. Tammy Wynette's ''D-I-V-O-R-C-E'' playing right after Ozark Mountain Daredevils' ''If You Wanna Get To Heaven' Heaven'' and Chicago's ''If You Leave Me Now'' playing right after Allanah Miles' ''Black Velvet'' are just some of the examples that have happened.
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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants. Pißwasser itself is allegedly made in Germany.
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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants. immigrants and plays all American Patriotic tropes. Pißwasser itself is allegedly supposedly made in Germany.
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* HypocriticalHumor: The Pißwasser ad is a full-on racist triade lashing out at immigrants. Pißwasser itself is allegedly made in Germany.
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* BlindIdiotTranslation[=/=]YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: For the first time ''averted'' regarding the Spanish translation of the game: Unlike previous games, when only English or European Spanish subtitles are provided, the Latin American version of the game uses this time the Latin American dialect, rather than the European one. This also creates ''another'' problem: The "Latin American" dialect turns out to be ''Mexican street slang'' (and that used in Mexico City, to boot), so non-Mexican Latino players had lot of problems trying to figure out all the slang.
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* BlindIdiotTranslation[=/=]YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: For the first time ''averted'' regarding the Spanish translation of the game: Unlike previous games, when only English or European Spanish subtitles are provided, the Latin American version of the game uses this time the Latin American dialect, rather than the European one. This also creates ''another'' problem: The "Latin American" dialect turns out to be ''Mexican street slang'' (and that not the one from Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Chihuahua, Michoacán or Sinaloa[[labelnote:*]]the latter three are often used in Mexican media to depict criminals[[/labelnote]], but the one used in Mexico City, to boot), City), so non-Mexican Latino players had lot of problems trying to figure out all the slang.
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** The security vans are from a company called ''Gruppe 6''. It sounds like a BlandNameProduct unless you pronounce 6 in German. 6 is ''sechs'', thus the company's name is actually ''Gruppe Sechs'' (Group Sex).
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** The security vans are from a company called ''Gruppe 6''. It sounds like a BlandNameProduct unless you pronounce 6 in German. 6 is ''sechs'', thus the company's name is actually ''Gruppe Sechs'' (Group Sex).[[labelnote:*]]Notice that this company's joke name is actually tamer than it was back in the ''GrandTheftAutoIII'' era, where the security vans were actually labeled as "Gruppe Sechs".[[/labelnote]]
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* MoodWhiplash: Due to the shuffle nature of the radio playback engine, the game can do this. Tammy Wynette's ''D-I-V-O-R-C-E'' playing right after Ozark Mountain Daredevils' ''If You Wanna Get To Heaven' and Chicago's ''If You Leave Me Now'' playing right after Allanah Miles' ''Black Velvet'' are just some of the examples that have happened.
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** Try listening to Rebel Radio while trying to do a race. Tammy Wynette's D-I-V-O-R-C-E, a massive TearJerker of a song, totally destroys the mood.
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** Try listening to Rebel Radio while trying to do a race. All's fine until Tammy Wynette's D-I-V-O-R-C-E, a massive TearJerker ''tearjerker'' of a song, totally destroys starts to play. You'd best change the mood.channel.
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** Try listening to Rebel Radio while trying to do a race. Tammy Wynette's D-I-V-O-R-C-E, a massive TearJerker of a song, totally destroys the mood.
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* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Ironically, the cars are based off real-world vehicles- but due to the reluctance of R* to pay licensing fees, they have slight modification to the looks and their names are often completely changed. For example, many players have noted that the Karin Futo GT is an {{Expy}} of the Toyota [=AE86=] Trueno/Levin GT-S. If a Trueno was a sedan and not a hatchback, and has it's flip-open headlights ripped out (although some people speculate that they look like a '91 [=AE92=] Corolla GT instead).
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* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Ironically, the cars are based off real-world vehicles- but due to the reluctance of R* to pay licensing fees, they have slight modification to the looks and their names are often completely changed. For example, the Karin Futo GT is said to be an {{Expy}} of a Toyota AE86 Trueno/Levin GT-S. If a Trueno was a sedan and not a hatchback, and has it's flip-open headlights ripped out (although some people speculate that they look like '91 AE92 Corolla GTs instead).
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* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Ironically, the cars are based off real-world vehicles- but due to the reluctance of R* to pay licensing fees, they have slight modification to the looks and their names are often completely changed. For example, many players have noted that the Karin Futo GT is said to be an {{Expy}} of a the Toyota AE86 [=AE86=] Trueno/Levin GT-S. If a Trueno was a sedan and not a hatchback, and has it's flip-open headlights ripped out (although some people speculate that they look like a '91 AE92 [=AE92=] Corolla GTs GT instead).
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* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Ironically, the cars are based off real-world vehicles- but due to the reluctance of R* to pay licensing fees, they have slight modification to the looks and their names are often completely changed. For example, the Karin Futo GT is said to be an {{Expy}} of a Toyota AE86 Trueno/Levin GT-S. If a Trueno was a sedan and not a hatchback, and has it's flip-open headlights ripped out (although some people speculate that they look like '91 AE92 Corolla GTs instead).
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--->''Imagine if feminism never happened. Imagine a woman treated like a doormat covered with DNA. Imagine sex where she has to go to the hospital.''
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*** A new heavy revolver was released. It's not quite as powerful as the Marksman Pistol, but it's still heavier than most pistol, making it a far better option for "one shot pistol" against NPCs than the Marksman.
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** And if you drive into the back of an ambulance, they'll all pile out, haul you from your car and proceed to beat you up. Presumably the Hippocratic Oath is optional for LS medics.
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** And if you drive into the back of an ambulance, they'll all pile out, haul you from your car and proceed to beat you up. Presumably the Hippocratic Oath is optional for LS medics.medics.
*** More like they took the [[IncrediblyLamePun Hypocritical Oath]].
*** More like they took the [[IncrediblyLamePun Hypocritical Oath]].
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** A number of dialogue references are made to characters and events in ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' (with [[spoiler: several characters from that game and its DLCs appearing]]).
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** A number of dialogue references are made to characters and events in ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' (with [[spoiler: several characters from that game and its DLCs {{DLC}}s appearing]]).
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** The Elegy RH8. Sure it's not the fastest or fanciest sports car but it has good handling and most importantly is free to purchase in GTA online if you have a social club account making it a great vehicle to use if you're trying to save money but want an effective transport or are just starting out.
** The Marksman Pistol. As stated above the pistol is slow and takes a long time to reload, but at the same time that reload makes it one of the best defensive weapons in a shootout. As reloading causes your character to duck back behind cover and thus, in a good position, is safe for that duration. It may not cause much carnage, but its slow and steady style it has can help you stay out of the line of danger long enough to survive.
** The Marksman Pistol. As stated above the pistol is slow and takes a long time to reload, but at the same time that reload makes it one of the best defensive weapons in a shootout. As reloading causes your character to duck back behind cover and thus, in a good position, is safe for that duration. It may not cause much carnage, but its slow and steady style it has can help you stay out of the line of danger long enough to survive.
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** The Elegy RH8.{{RH8}}. Sure it's not the fastest or fanciest sports car but it has good handling and most importantly is free to purchase in GTA online if you have a social club account making it a great vehicle to use if you're trying to save money but want an effective transport or are just starting out.
** The Marksman Pistol. As stated above the pistol is slow and takes a long time to reload, but at the same time that reload makes it one of the best defensive weapons in a shootout.As reloading Reloading causes your character to duck back behind cover and thus, in a good position, is making you safe for that duration. It may not cause much carnage, but its slow and steady style it has can help you stay out of the line of danger long enough to survive.
** The Marksman Pistol. As stated above the pistol is slow and takes a long time to reload, but at the same time that reload makes it one of the best defensive weapons in a shootout.
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** The Marksman Rifle bridges the gap between assault rifles and sniper rifles perfectly, with good rate of fire and exceptional accuracy. It may not be able to zoom in, but its semi-automatic action makes it perfect for use with [[BulletTime Michael's special ability]], unlike normal sniper rifles, where the BulletTime actually slows down the bolt-pull action and increases the time between shots.
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** The so-called "Standard FPS" control scheme from the Next-gen version only switches the sprinting and sneaking buttons. To add insult to injury, you have to hold the thumbstick button down to keep sprinting.
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* WorstAid: Paramedics are completely useless in this game. Whenever there's a pile of limp bodies lying around on the street, they'll just inspect them, immediately conclude that they're all dead, even if they were simply knocked out in a fight, and just leave the bodies there.
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* WorstAid: Paramedics are completely useless in this game. Whenever there's a pile of limp bodies lying around on the street, they'll just inspect them, immediately conclude that they're all dead, even if they were simply knocked out in a fight, and just leave the bodies there.there.
** And if you drive into the back of an ambulance, they'll all pile out, haul you from your car and proceed to beat you up. Presumably the Hippocratic Oath is optional for LS medics.
** And if you drive into the back of an ambulance, they'll all pile out, haul you from your car and proceed to beat you up. Presumably the Hippocratic Oath is optional for LS medics.
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** The [[{{Eagleland}} Republican Space Rangers]] return, once again keeping future America safe from encroaching feel-good socialism by becoming part of the "Coffee Grinder" political movement. They also gain a limousine-liberal counterpart in "Impotent Rage", a smug SmallNameBigEgo-type superhero who angrily derides those he disagrees with for being Neanderthals and brutes, yet solves all his problems with violence.
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** The [[{{Eagleland}} Republican Space Rangers]] return, once again keeping future America safe from encroaching feel-good socialism by becoming part of the "Coffee Grinder" political movement. They also gain a limousine-liberal counterpart in "Impotent Rage", a smug SmallNameBigEgo-type superhero who angrily derides those he disagrees with for being Neanderthals and brutes, yet solves all his problems with violence. It's also implied that he actually is impotent, which is the reason for his outbursts, making his moniker a MeaningfulName.
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** Inverted with snowballs. They're meant to be a joke, but 3 successive snowball hits will kill an NPC! They're also effectively in limitless supply during festive events.
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** Coming home to find heavily armed men invading your home [[Spoiler:and your daughter being held at gunpoint in her own bedroom]]
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** Coming home to find heavily armed men invading your home [[Spoiler:and [[spoiler:and your daughter being held at gunpoint in her own bedroom]]
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** Coming home to find heavily armed men invading your home [[Spoiler:and your daughter being held at gunpoint in her own bedroom]]
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* StatuesqueStunner:
** A lot of the attractive girls that reside up in North Los Santos that reach up to at least the protagonist's shoulder, since all the protagonists are established to be at least six feet tall.
** The female Online Protagonist can count since she's also established to be around six feet tall.
** A lot of the attractive girls that reside up in North Los Santos that reach up to at least the protagonist's shoulder, since all the protagonists are established to be at least six feet tall.
** The female Online Protagonist can count since she's also established to be around six feet tall.
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* HyperspaceArsenal: In the proud GTA tradition. To make weapon selection less tedious, a ''RedDeadRedemption''-style weapon wheel has been added.
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* HyperspaceArsenal: In the proud GTA tradition. To make weapon selection less tedious, a ''RedDeadRedemption''-style ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''-style weapon wheel has been added.
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** The Pegassi Zentorno. It has unholy top speed, acceleration, and handling. The latter? The handling is too good. It's way too sensitive around corners, which can send you careening into a pole or wall. And like most supercars in GTA 5, it's not practical for maneuvering around busy roads and streets. And its super low suspension can pose a big problem when curbs are involved.
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** The Jester from The Business Update. Its stats might be slightly lowly in comparison to other sports cars (Average speed and mediocre acceleration) but in the handling category, it's a force to be reckoned with. It has amazing traction in any condition, doesn't go flying when you try to handbrake on a turn, easily corrects itself in case of a spin-out, and can outmaneuver almost every sport and super car in the game (except maybe the Elegy and the Coquette).
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Tropes present in both Single-Player Mode and ''Online''.
----
* AdultFear: A couple of the random events you can come across revolve around people luring you into traps; two of them are women that seem to be asking for help, only for you to be led into a robbery attempt.
* AdventureFriendlyWorld: Los Santos was designed to be spacious yet easy for the player to get what they need for their shenanigans. Case in point: despite the sky-high crime rate, the Ammu-Nation gun store will happily sell players whatever they need. No background checks, no waiting period, no paperwork, no questions asked. Despite this, funnily enough, Lamar still feels the need to point out that Franklin is the one who's paying for his and Stretch's shopping expenses, since they both have a criminal record and Franklin doesn't. It's later revealed that he does. What for, well, you'll have to find that out yourself.
* AmazonianBeauty: The female bodybuilders seen on Vespucci Beach, both buff and dressed in revealing bikinis.
* AnAssKickingChristmas: The ActionPrologue is set during Christmastime, as shown by the bank's lobby (the very first area you start in) being decked out for the occasion with lights and a tree. And ''Online'' celebrated Christmas by covering the entire map in snow and giving players access to Christmas-themed clothes and masks.
* ApatheticCitizens: Averted more than usual, in that various citizens will now actually call the police on their own if they see you steal a car (that, or they will come and beat you up themselves) or stand near them for too long.
** Park a cool car on the sidewalk and listen to some compliment it or pull out their phones to take a picture.
** It's a lot easier to antagonize a citizen. Look at them the wrong way and they'll attack you.
** Some citizens even seem to employ racial profiling; entering a convenience store as Franklin could result in someone attacking him or calling the cops, even if he hasn't done anything and isn't even armed.
* ArtificialStupidity
** An easy way to lose police helicopters is to go to the wind farm (the place with the giant windmills). The helicopters will stupidly follow you in, and will promptly be smashed to pieces by the blades on the windmills. If you picked a good pilot for the "Obvious" route of the final heist, they'll actually ''[[ArtificialBrilliance exploit]]'' this, flying into the turbines in an attempt to lose the helicopters (which works).
** A well-demonstrated case of enemies not detecting a fence in front of them in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he6pBnC7v8U this]] RoosterTeeth video.
** When playing as Michael or Franklin, you can sometimes find Trevor drinking and tossing grenades at a specific spot on his yard. While they function just like regular grenades, [=NPCs=] standing near that specific spot won't notice Trevor's grenades even if they're thrown right next to them.
** [=NPCs=] don't seem to notice cops nearby when they try to start fights with you or steal your vehicle. This often leads to them getting shot.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYLDh4De3lo Passenger jets are programmed in the game to take off on a runway without stopping]], no matter what is blocking their path. Even if there is another passenger jet blocking its path, the jet will still run into it.
** AI drivers can't seem to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhm9vzlZMt0 handle ramps well.]]
** The LSPD dread the train tunnels so much that they will stop chasing a player with a five-star wanted level if he/she enters one.
** Firemen will always try to extinguish any fires they can see, even ones coming from a vehicle that's on the verge of exploding.
** Paramedics will always closely examine a corpse even if it's on fire or placed near something ready to explode.
** Cops and other [=NPCs=] often seem to ignore basic hazards, such as people on fire or even ''their own tear gas'' and will walk through/over said hazards, even if it kills them. Holing up in a space with a single entrance and killing a few officers with some explosives will lead to the creation of a flaming barricade that only perpetuates itself as subsequent waves of officers come to breach the entrance, only to fall, screaming and on fire, over their still-burning comrades.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:
** The soldiers in and around Fort Zancudo wear Army-style grey camouflage and the symbol of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, but they often shout "Semper Fi" and call themselves Marines[[note]]Though they will ''also'' say "You fucked with the wrong soldier!"; [[InsistentTerminology No actual U.S. Marine would ever refer to themselves as soldiers.]][[/note]].
** They sometimes use the Type 56-2 Assault Rifle, a real-world Chinese version of the AK-47 imported in small amount during the 1980s for training purposes. This is mostly for balancing because the in-game AR15 variant is too powerful for the player to fight.
* AscendedGlitch: The in-air handling on the bikes isn't the most realistic, but it ''does'' allow for some [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmRcF07ipbw insane]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mLsZRiD6KI stunts]]. An entire "stunt community" emerged in the game to see who could pull off the best and most over-the-top jumps and tricks. As a result, when Rockstar patched the physics in the game so that motorcycles and bicycles handle more realistically when they're in the air, there was such an outcry that [[https://support.rockstargames.com/hc/communities/public/questions/200896917-Changes-to-GTAV-Motorcycle-and-Bike-Stunt-Physics they went back to the old physics]].
* AttackOfThePoliticalAd: As early as late 2013, the runoff to the 2014 midterm elections is already underway, so naturally we get web, radio and TV campaign ads from Jock Cranley (Republican) and Sue Murry (Democratic), candidates for governor of San Andreas, which, like [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV John Hunter and Michael Graves]] before them, focused on attacking their respective opponents over explaining their own agendas (which are no better than their opponent's).
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** The high-end military hardware (the Rhino tank, Buzzard helicopter and LAZER jet) are all incredibly expensive pieces of kit that are hard to acquire and have no practical use beyond causing mayhem. In fact, it's actually quite hard to use the latter two, as the guided missiles often miss and lining up shots with the cannons is extremely difficult. This is somewhat mitigated in Online, however: once purchased, the Rhino and Buzzard are available for use in Missions, which in some [[ThatOneLevel particularly frustrating cases]] makes them a lot easier.
** The Rat-Loader, a hard-to-find junker truck based on a 1930s round-nosed pickup, is highly sought after by players due to its wide array of outlandish, "rat-rod" style customization options. Performance-wise, though, it's the very definition of TheAllegedCar: it suffers from massive understeer (especially at high speed), takes forever to reach its top speed, always has trouble starting up no matter what condition it's in, and always looks rusted out no matter which custom paint job is applied.
** The Declasse Tornado. Yes, it does have some pretty cool modification and a pretty slick 50's coupe look, but without any engine mods it's just not practical for anything other than slow city cruising around the city of Los Santos. Plus it can only seat yourself and one person, making even the Sentinel look good by comparison.
** The minigun isn't quite what it used to be. While it can blow up vehicles, it doesn't do so nearly as fast as the grenade launcher or RPG. It can't be fired from cover either, so you have to stand out in the open to use it, which is often a death sentence. Furthermore, it chews up ammo really fast, and while it's certainly lethal against people, it's really more overkill than anything. Other guns can kill just as well without nearly as many drawbacks.
*** Using it also slows you down, and aiming for the weapon is permanently set to free aim, meaning that most of your shots are probably going to go off screaming into the wild blue yonder.
** [[CoolBike Motorcycles]] are this when it comes to chases. They're quick and agile but because [=NPC=] drivers [[RubberBandAI are always fast enough]] [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard to ram you no matter what they're driving]] and can [[PerfectPlayAI match you turn for turn]] it's only a matter of time before they ram you off your bike which is instant death in this game.
** The gold-painted Swift and the gold-painted Luxor are this, given that while they retain all the features of their more ordinary counterparts and gain a few extras, they're still $5.1 million and $10 million, respectively.
** The Declasse Moonbeam. The only van in the game to have proper sliding side doors, which means that players can use their heaviest non-explosive weapons by leaning out of the side of the van. Great in theory, except that even when upgraded it's still a big, sluggish van with large windows allowing clear shots to the occupants. The sliding doors also leave the passengers in the back completely exposed to gunfire they can't always return due to restricted aim.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Michael, having the most affluent lifestyle of the protagonists, has been depicted like this, several heists have the three protagonists don suits, and, naturally, a suit is an option for your ''Online'' character. As you can choose what the protagonists wear you can put Franklin in nice suits when he has enough money to shop at the mid and high end clothing stores. Try this with Trevor however and he tends to end up looking like an awkward user car salesman.
* BallisticDiscount: Technically possible to do this at Ammu-Nation, but not recommended for a few reasons. First, it's not possible to loot stores after killing the NPC's. Second, you ''can'' steal some money from the register, but it's so little compared to the amount you usually pay for a weapon that you might as well not bother. Third, the shopkeeper ''will'' [[ComputersAreFast pull his weapon out the moment and headshot you the moment he detects gunsights on him]].
* BankRobbery: A ''major part'' of this game involves this trope. How you pull them off is up to you.
* BilingualBonus: "Zonah" is Hebrew for "prostitute".
** In addition, many of the fake products featured in the game appear to be bilingual puns. For example, the beer Pißwasser (ß is pronounced s, wasser=water), or the effeminate male fashion Hommegina line (Homme=man).
** The security vans are from a company called ''Gruppe 6''. It sounds like a BlandNameProduct unless you pronounce 6 in German. 6 is ''sechs'', thus the company's name is actually ''Gruppe Sechs'' (Group Sex).
* BlandNameProduct: [[IProduct iFruit]], [[{{Facebook}} Lifeinvader]] and [[{{Twitter}} Bleeter]] are the obvious ones and a few from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' make a return as well. The three playable characters have a phone based on the three leading brands of smartphone (Michael's is based on the [=iPhone=], Franklin's on the Samsung Galaxy range and Trevor has one based on Nokia's Lumia range running Windows).
* BlindIdiotTranslation[=/=]YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: For the first time ''averted'' regarding the Spanish translation of the game: Unlike previous games, when only English or European Spanish subtitles are provided, the Latin American version of the game uses this time the Latin American dialect, rather than the European one. This also creates ''another'' problem: The "Latin American" dialect turns out to be ''Mexican street slang'' (and that used in Mexico City, to boot), so non-Mexican Latino players had lot of problems trying to figure out all the slang.
* BlingBlingBang: All ranged non-grenade weapons can be given gold or platinum tints. The Ill-Gotten Gains update adds very flashy finishes to a selection of weapons.
* BorderPatrol: There are sharks located around the edges of the map that will kill you if you swim too far out. If you try to fly or drive a boat to the edges of the map instead to bypass the sharks, once you reach a certain point your boat or plane will crash or stall and proceed to sink, leaving you [[OhCrap surrounded by half a dozen or more sharks with no escape]] (although if you're in single player mode, you can switch to another character and the character you will playing will manage to get back to land by his own devices if you wait a while before switching back).
* BoringButPractical
** The Carbine Rifle. Nothing fancy about it, but it has good firing rate and accuracy, can hold up to 60 rounds with extended magazines and has a very good zoom with the scope mod. In the single-player, you'll be using it for the majority of the game, as you unlock it upon completion of the first heist and its successor, the Advanced Rifle, isn't unlocked [[EleventhHourSuperpower until after the final heist]].
** The Micro SMG. It may have inferior accuracy and damage to your first pistol but it shoots much faster and just as far, making it a good weapon for drive-bys. It's also one of the first weapons you unlock in GTA Online and in single player mode and its superior, the AP Pistol, isn't available until much later.
*** the machine pistol, a DLC weapons, comes pretty close to to the AP pistol. It's a submachine gun, but it basically functions as an automatic pistol, hence it's name, and thus has good accuracy, damage, and can be used with one hand, so it can be used for drive bys. In addition it's a DLC weapon, so you basically get the AP pistol early with it. It also uses SMG ammo, witch is a small perk but one that can come up more frequently than would be expected.
** If you want to count weapons from updates the Heavy Pistol has this in spades. Kills most enemies in two shots, accurate and has a large 18 round magazine making it able to take down large amounts of enemies quickly before reloading. In single player it's unlocked immediately for free in your inventory when the update is installed and can be bought at any rank in GTA Online.
** The Elegy RH8. Sure it's not the fastest or fanciest sports car but it has good handling and most importantly is free to purchase in GTA online if you have a social club account making it a great vehicle to use if you're trying to save money but want an effective transport or are just starting out.
** The Marksman Pistol. As stated above the pistol is slow and takes a long time to reload, but at the same time that reload makes it one of the best defensive weapons in a shootout. As reloading causes your character to duck back behind cover and thus, in a good position, is safe for that duration. It may not cause much carnage, but its slow and steady style it has can help you stay out of the line of danger long enough to survive.
* BrokenBridge. The first GTA game to avert this. GTA V lets you explore the entire map (certain mission-specific interiors excepted) from the moment you gain control of a character.
* CallBack: In the mission "Father/Son," Jimmy is hanging from a moving vehicle and Michael has to drive underneath to catch him. In the final mission of VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas, Carl has to rescue his brother Sweet the exact same way.
* CarCushion: Averted to an extent. Fall from a high enough height onto a car and the impact will make the car explode.
* CelebrityParadox: Los Santos is an expy for Los Angeles, Alderney for New Jersey, and San Andreas for California. There are songs on the radio that mention California, Los Angeles Neighborhoods, and the song "Convoy" mentions the Jersey Shores.
* ChurchOfHappyology: Three different versions, one per character.
** Accessible to Michael is The Epsilon Program, making its return from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-xuQNQ1SLI is seriously weird]]. Since the game is taking place in a LosAngeles {{Expy}}, it's a TakeThat at The Church of Scientology itself, right down to the church's main building being an almost-exact replica of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Center in LA, and one of its ads mentions how its female members sleep with male movie stars [[Creator/TomCruise "so they can convince themselves they're straight."]]
** There's also the Children Of The Mountain run by Brother Adrian, whose site Franklin can pay thousands of dollars to, answer various questions (giving them a lot of personal info) and eventually get a T-Shirt. The website for it is filled with similarities to the real thing.
** Trevor can be involved with the Altruists who are the strangest of the bunch.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Franklin is light green, Michael is light blue, Trevor is orange, and the multiplayer character is dark blue (the space was yellow during the two weeks before GTA Online went live).
** The Epsilon Program (accessible by Michael) has light blue as its main motif. Everyone working for them wears light blue (including the special robes Michael has to buy for later missions), the cars and helicopter they drive in are light blue, the website background is light blue, and the logo on their building is light blue as well. This is probably to parody the fact that one of the Scientology [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology#mediaviewer/File:Church_of_Scientology_building_in_Los_Angeles,_Fountain_Avenue.jpg buildings]] in Los Angeles is painted light blue.
* CommonplaceRare: The Declasse Asea sedan. Logically it should be very common, being based off a Chevrolet Aveo/Dacia Logan but it doesn't spawn in the traffic at all -- there are only two appearances of it in single player (and only one instance of its appearance lets you take it, if you miss it or destroy it it's LostForever) and it can be only obtained at the start of GTA Online (and chosen in sedan races). Averted as of the Business Update in March 2014, in which several cars previously unavailable for purchase, including the Asea, can be purchased from one of the two in-game dealerships.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard
** Enemy [[NonPlayerCharacter [=NPC=]s]] are able to [[ImprobableAimingSkills blindfire from cover and still be able to hit you at sniper rifle range.]] This can be especially annoying in ''Online'', where it's not uncommon to be immediately gunned down the moment you step away from cover by [=NPC=]s who are a long distance away. This is especially prevalent when the police start sending helicopters after you. If you kill the pilot or destroy the tail rotor without killing the gunmen in the chopper, they will continue to shoot you as the helicopter crashes.
** Furthermore, the various updates to ''Online'' buffed enemy [=NPC=]s even more. They have [[MadeOfIron the durability of a tank]], [[ComputersAreFast faster reflexes]], and their bullets do more damage to you even when you're wielding the same gun as them. Try to 1v1 an enemy on hard difficulty, and he'll gun you down before you can even raise your weapon.
** Aerial attackers are often also gifted with pilots who have discovered the secret to avoiding the wobble that plagues every helicopter the player flies.
*** AI controlled fighter jets & attack choppers can fire their machine guns in any direction, regardless of where the nose of the aircraft is aimed.
*** The homing rockets are noticeably worse at tracking AI controlled aircraft than player controlled ones. It's not uncommon for homing rockets to ''curve around'' their target missing them entirely even if they are hovering in place or flying in a straight line.
** Police Cruisers are able to chase you down and ram you spinning off the road even if you're driving in a Truffade Adder, the fastest car in the game (if you're driving in a straight line). Even more egregiously, if you come up behind one and try to pass, ''he'll match you turn for turn.''
** The same is true when you're being chased by gangs. Their clunky [=SUV=]s and lowriders have no problem keeping up and ramming your supercar.
** Police cars and helicopters spawn very quickly and can even do so with you ''just outside their visual range''. You're going to have a hell of a time shaking them off at the higher wanted levels.
** In concept, when you elude the authorities and get the WantedMeter to start flashing, the cops have no idea where you are and will be on high alert as they patrol the area and look for you. In truth, they ''do'' know where you are and will circle straight to your position, going so far as to get out of their cars and walk into the alleyway, up the hill, or on top of the roof you just so happen to be hiding in, regardless if anyone actually saw you in the area. The only differences between this state and "high alert" are that they move more slowly than when they're on "alert", and they're less likely to do a 180 degree turn toward you. One (not 100%) reliable exception is train tunnels and similar covered areas, which they are disinclined to investigate.
*** A good example is if you manage to lose the police, somehow, and hide in a bush (A good idea for this is further away from the city, where police tend to spawn further away and from fewer directions) and watch. Even though the game ''does'' treat you as invisible in the bush as long as you don't come out of hiding, the police will still make their way in front of the bush and walk right up to it, still not seeing you and thus not restarting your wanted level, but still walking around it until your level vanishes.
** Hell, if spawning cops right in front of you doesn't work, the police will sometimes be able to refresh the wanted level regardless if anyone could realistically see you (like if you were hiding underground where they typically don't follow you into) or in really infuriating cases if ''there aren't even people in the area at all''. The chances of this happening increases as the wanted meter goes up which makes losing a five star wanted level impossible at times.
** The tanks in Fort Zancudo seem to have sharpshooters controlling them, being able to hit sports cars and muscle cars going over 100 mph.
** Flying the blimp (available as a DLC in some early promotions) has a major risk. Not only is it MadeOfExplodium, but if you fly over restricted airspace (specifically the military base), you will be warned to change course, as per usual, but a jet fighter will instantly spawn behind you and blow you out of the sky before you have a chance to react.
** Vehicles tend to be more durable if [[NonPlayerCharacter [=NPC=]s]] are driving them. The most egregious example is Police Mavericks which if flown by police [[MadeOfIron can easily soak up hundreds of assault rifle rounds without showing signs of damage]], yet if you are flying one all it takes is a [[MadeOfPlasticine dozen or so rounds from pistols for it to start smoking]]. Vehicles driven by [=NPC=]s can start up and operate with few problems no matter how damaged the engine is ignoring the usual aversion of CriticalExistenceFailure.
** Sometimes [=NPC=] characters, especially cops, can survive being in an exploding vehicle (which in every game in the series [[OneHitKill is fatal no questions asked for the player]]), getting out after the explosion, but on fire, which is rarely fatal. Especially annoying if [[EliteMooks NOOSE]] does this when you try to use explosives to thin them out.
** Some curious people looking at the code to give players wanted levels found that pedestrians can get the police sent after players ''without even pulling out their phones''. What's worse, even ''wild animals'' can contact the police!
* CombatPragmatist: The players are obviously this if they choose but the AI does this too. Beat down enough gang members with a melee weapon and the rest of the gang [[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight will pull out their guns]] and gladly ignore MookChivalry.
* ContinuityNod: Works with BroadStrokes and AlternateUniverse. There's enough nods to imply events ''similar'' to the 3D universe happened.
** Radio host Lazlow more or less continues his downward slide from GTA IV, in which he appeared to be the only character who remembers some of the events that happened in the GTA III universe.
** Another GTA III character, Fernando, also rejoins the franchise and makes reference to his behavior in ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas''.
** A number of dialogue references are made to characters and events in ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' (with [[spoiler: several characters from that game and its DLCs appearing]]).
* ContinuitySnarl: The online portion of the game is set several months before the single player story but the TV shows Tracey De Santa on Fame Or Shame's finale with Lazlow saying he's being threatened to get Tracey to win, which happens in single player.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Nervous Ron's show on Blaine County Talk Radio, which is less Alex Jones and more ''Series/TheXFiles'' with a bit of ''Film/TheMatrix''.
** Ironically, [[spoiler: achieving 100% completion in single player actually proves some of the conspiracies true!]]
* CoolCar: This being Los Santos, there are a few cars that are just begging to be plucked.
* CoolPlane: Planes (including fighter jets) make a return.
** A flyable version of the blimp was made available as a DLC in some early promotions.
** The Vestra which appears in both ''Online'' and ''Single Player'' after the ''Business Update''. It's almost worth a million dollars in ''Online'', but it's the fastest plane, even faster than the Luxor and has the agility of a Mallard, making it one of the better planes to own.
** For the first time, it's also possible to pilot large aircraft such as [[http://gta.wikia.com/Cargo_Plane cargo]] [[http://gta.wikia.com/Titan planes]] and [[http://gta.wikia.com/Jet passenger airliners]].
** ''The San Andreas Flight School'' gave us the Besra training jet. It has the best agility of any plane, even outperforming the Vestra and Mallard, making it perfect for stunts and fancy maneuvering.
* CoolButInefficient:
** The Musket introduced in the Independence Day Special does high damage and has good accuracy and range, but it's ''slow'' to reload (roughly 5 seconds) after only one shot. Not an ideal weapon to use against cops.
** The Fireworks Launcher from the same update does decent damage, but the player is better off with other explosive weapons that will guarantee kills. It's just there to make, well, fireworks. Also, ammo is only available during firework related holidays, otherwise your stuck with the limited ammo that you managed to buy.
** The Homing Launcher introduced in the Festive Surprise. It's basically like the standard rocket launcher, with the added effect of being able to lock on to moving vehicles. However, the player can only carry 10 rockets at a time (as opposed to 20 for the standard rocket launcher), it takes a few seconds to lock on, and it's ''still possible to miss'' if the target is moving right.
** The Vintage Pistol from the Hipster Update is a cool antique pistol with custom engravings and a shiny nickel finish but has terrible range, accuracy and a very small magazine size that is only better than the [[JokeItem SNS Pistol]]. Probably intentional considering the little respect hipsters get in this setting.
** The MG. Overall, it's a good weapon. It has good damage, good range, and with extended mags, a large 100-round magazine. However, in singleplayer it falls into this trope. Why? Because its superior, the Combat MG, is unlocked before it.[[note]]To elaborate, the MG is unlocked after The Paleto Score, while the Combat MG is unlocked after Blitz Play. In fact, Michael is given one for free ''during'' said mission (and with a scope and a grip to boot!)[[/note]] This, combined with the MG's lackluster stats compared to the Combat MG, means that the only time the average player might actually use the MG is in Online.
** The Advanced Rifle, for being an EleventhHourSuperpower. As mentioned below, it's unlocked after The Big Score, which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't ''the second-to-last story mission in the entire game''. Furthermore, depending on which ending you chose, you might not even be able to use the gun in the final mission.[[note]]If you pick Option A, the only opportunity to use the gun is at the end, but after the cutscene, Frank pulls out a pistol. Many players are probably going to use that to shoot the target instead. Meanwhile, in Option B, the player doesn't even kill the target via shooting him.[[/note]] Subverted if you picked the Obvious route for The Big Score, where Mike & Frank are given Advanced Rifles with extended magazines.
** The Marksman Pistol from the Ill Gotten Gains Part 2 Update is a powerful HandCannon, taking down any NPC in one shot, even if it's a body shot; however, it has many of the same drawbacks of the Musket, such as being a single shot weapon and having a slow and cumbersome reload.
* CrapsackWorld[=/=]DysfunctionJunction: [[UpToEleven Ho, boy.]] Basically, the setting of the game is a conglomeration of all the worst people and all the worst traits in [[{{Eagleland}} American culture]]: fame and celebrity obsession, materialism, social Darwinism, xenophobia, narcissism, and more, with virtually every character -- including many minorities -- exhibiting at least one of these. Naturally, the negative portrayal of the minority characters landed the game into quite a bit of controversy, some of it from PoesLaw, some of it because negative portrayals of minorities are (to some) [[OnceAcceptableTarget unacceptable in ANY circumstance,]] setting and context be damned.\\
There ''are'' in-universe efforts to fight this corruption and lack of good nature, and as with ''GTA IV'' some character exhibit morality that would be admirable even in the real world. These people usually suffer at the hands of the corrupt and injust, however, and at times on the whole it seems they simply cannot stand against the bleak world they live in. [[spoiler:A man leading a protest against gun violence, after a protester is killed the day before by a shooting, gets killed by a ''knife'' during his own protest. Things just don't go right for good people.]]
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted with the [=NPCs=] in this game in regards to gunfights. Shoot them enough times with a weak pistol and they will be on the ground moaning in pain until they bleed out, sometimes trying to shoot back. Played straight in fistfights, however.
** Overall the player takes fairly low damage when hit by cars (though significantly more than in ''IV''), except ones going at very high speeds; even these rarely take away more than 50% of the player's health. However, if you get caught under a vehicle or its tires roll over you even once, it's ''instant death''.
* DamnYouMuscleMemory:
** Play a rousing few hours of ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' and then switch to ''V''. Call for a taxi, and curse in frustration as you accidentally jack the taxi when you meant to get in as a passenger.
** Players used to the control scheme of the previous game may also run into trouble when trying to switch weapons or radio stations.
** And unlike GTA IV, there appears to be no option for reverting to the GTA III-era control scheme, likely due to the addition of new controls such as a weapon wheel and character switching.
* DarkerAndEdgier[=/=]BloodierAndGorier: Surprisingly, yes. [[EvilVersusEvil Protagonists and antagonists are straight villains]], and several characters are total [[AxCrazy psychos]] (Trevor, Steve, Dreyfuss, the Altruists...), not to mention that Rockstar has added extremely graphic content, including sexually explicit moments and extremely disturbing content, with the ColdBloodedTorture scene being the most prominent.
** If anything, this is more or less a {{Reconstruction}} of the LighterAndSofter trope. BlackComedy UpToEleven and Michael's backstory in this game is by far less dark than [[GrandTheftAutoIV Niko's backstory]].
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist
** Perhaps more than ever before. You don't lose any inventory, and just respawn at the nearest clinic minus a not-insignificant percentage of your cash ([[MoneyForNothing boo hoo]], it can never exceed $5,000 which is chump change if your character has millions). And with the cops more trigger-happy than ever, you may never even find out what happens when you get busted.
** It's not even an issue in missions anymore. If you are wasted or busted during a mission, a "Mission Failed" screen appears and the player has the option of retrying from the last checkpoint which means no penalty at all. And, after three fails, there's even the option to skip that section of the mission again without penalty. However, certain gold medal objectives ''must'' be cleared on a single clean playthrough; using a checkpoint/skip will lock those objectives out unless replayed.
** Also the creation of [[http://www.lifeinvader.com/profile/warstock_cache_n_carry Lifeinvader]], a parody of {{Facebook}}, which can be used to get in-game deals and bonuses.
* DeepSouth:
** Many of the residents of Blaine County speak with deep southern accents.
** Lampshaded by a radio ad for an upcoming video game called ''Pride, Not Prejudice'', a first-person shooter taking place in the South and employing every Southern stereotype this trope covers.
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: This being a GTA game, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything/GrandTheftAuto it's part of a large sub page.]]
* DifficultButAwesome: Supercars and high end sports cars tend to be this, due to the high speeds they can crash with relative ease and their somewhat low braking making it more likely that you'll stop by hitting, say, that wall in front of you or other drivers than the breaks doing their job. That said, if you can figure out when to apply the brakes such that you don't stop dead at the turn or miss it completely, they quickly become very worthwhile.
* EasterEggs: Oh so very many, with many visible in both the online and single-player versions. There are websites devoted simply to unravelling some of the cryptic clues involving [=UFOs=] (and possibly even a jetpack) scattered around the game map which have nothing to do with the storyline. The game world also includes countless shoutouts to past GTA games and characters, other Rockstar games, and there's even a surprisingly accurate recreation of the Playboy Mansion (complete with grotto) if you know where to find it. There are also many locations that can be explored that have no actual gameplay function in either single-player or online; they're just there to make the world more complete.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: As per series tradition. This time around, the player can pour a VaporTrail of gasoline and watch the fireworks but [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything only if it's powered by an engine.]] And even then, electric vehicles can explode when shot with explosives or if you land the vehicle wrong from a high height.
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: The Altruists' web site is entirely in Morse code except for the title.
* FirstPersonShooter: The Next-Gen version now allows you to see from a first-person perspective and not only shoot like in a FPS, but also drive, fly, and swim as well.
* GameBreakingBug
** There is one where accessing the home page using the in-game browser causes it to close immediately, messing up the HUD and disabling access to most of the functions of the cell phone, including the internet. This makes it impossible to do the Epsilon missions and purchase vehicles and property in Online mode with that save.
** Occasionally the player's skill bar "breaks" and refuses to fill up. The only solution is quitting the game and restarting from the last save point.
* GatlingGood: The minigun (albeit a more realistic version) reappears, after being absent from ''IV''.
* GenderFlip: ''GTAV'' features female cops for the first time in the series, though usually they're only found hanging around hospitals and police stations. (Female cops did exist in ''GTA IV'' but only their voices were heard, even during battles.)
* GeniusProgramming: The game is described as being an absolute marvel of game programming, considering how much content they managed to pack into a eight-year-old system while improving things such as graphics and character design from the previous game.
* GlassCannon: All player characters are like this compared to the ones from earlier installments. You overall die faster and their are far more things that instantly kill you (compare explosions which were survivable with full armor and in the outer area of the blast in the [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV previous game]] but are always death here) but the weapons you can get are more destructive and you can carry every weapon in the game.
* GottaCatchThemAll: As per usual for GTA, there's an insane amount of collectibles that need to be tracked down in order to reach 100% completion. Unlike GTA IV, though, which offered a whole lot of nothing for the effort, getting 100% completion in GTA V [[spoiler: unlocks an exclusive mission as well as some cool aesthetic features in the game world.]]
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: In addition to the [[{{FBI}} FIB]] from ''IV'', there's also the IAA serving as a stand-in for the {{CIA}}, apparently carrying on an InterserviceRivalry with the FIB.
* GuideDangIt: Due to the size of the map, walkthroughs or other guides are pretty much the only way of finding the locations where some of the random events/encounters may take place, especially those that may result in valuable crew members being added, unless the player is willing to aimlessly drive up and down every street on the map hoping for something to happen.
** A guide is ''definitely'' required for locating weapon, armor and collectible pick-up locations, especially as the former two are very rare. And if you want to locate the knife flights, you pretty much need a guide too as unlike stunt jumps (usually denoted by ramps) and under the bridge stunts (which are the easiest to locate because, duh), where knife flights need to be done are not obvious in any way (hint: tall buildings are ''not'' a prerequisite. Now find them all on your own).
** Or for knowing who ''not'' to kill, or deliver to the Altruist Cult, among the random characters encountered.
* HandCannon: The Marksman Pistol from the Ill Gotten Gains Part 2 Update. It can take down even armored NOOSE agents in one shot, but the weapon has a slow reload.
** For an idea on how strong it is, the marksman pistol's shot is tested to be stronger than the ''heavy sniper rifle'', which, in Online, can [[OneHitKill one-shot]] a player with a hit ''anywhere on the body''.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Averted, finally. After being only featured as a radio voice (and real-life behind-the-scenes script writer) since GTA III, [[spoiler: Lazlow finally appears on screen as part of several missions. The player even gets to do nasty things to him, though he can't be killed]].
* HideYourChildren: GTA V continues the tradition of children being totally absent from the world, despite the existence of playgrounds. Also, like ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', juvenile and baby animals are totally absent from the world. However, [[ShowWithinAShow two of the four TV cartoons featured in the game]] have children and teens in them. There is a newsboy who shows up in very beginning of "Gordon Moorehead Rides Again," a boy in the ad for the show, and a girl and a boy in the Redwood cigarettes commercial. There are teens in "Kung Fu Rainbow Lazer Force," including the five main protagonists of the show.
* {{Hipster}}:
** Trevor absolutely ''hates'' hipsters, to the point where his final Rampage side-mission has him shooting up the hipster enclave of Mirror Park. Of course, as Michael is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ot_Um1sGE keen to point out]], Trevor fulfills pretty much all the items on the hipster checklist -- his lifestyle, his manner of dress, his total rejection of good taste, the place he lives, and of course, the fact that he's adamant about not being a hipster.
** The online mode also added a hipster-themed item pack, which includes hipster fashions and hairstyles, "ironic" tattoos, retro cars, and even an antique cavalry dagger and a old-fashioned pistol as new weapons. Its name, of course, is the "I'm Not a Hipster" pack (named after something Trevor says when he rants about Michael calling him a hipster during a storyline cutscene).
* HollerButton[=/=]IShallTauntYou: If you enter a car without a weapon equipped, pressing the drive-by button will cause your character to [[FlippingTheBird flip the bird]] at anyone passing by. In single player, pressing right on the D-Pad will also make your character speak to [=NPC=]s near them, with unique dialogue depending on the NPC you're speaking to.
* HollywoodCalifornia
* HyperspaceArsenal: In the proud GTA tradition. To make weapon selection less tedious, a ''RedDeadRedemption''-style weapon wheel has been added.
** Made even more obvious at points in the game where Michael or Trevor find himself wearing only his underwear -- ''but he has complete access to his entire arsenal'', including the gargantuan minigun.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Annoyingly, enemies seems to possess this. Many a player has been iced from dozens of feet away by a {{Mook}} with a basic pistol. Making matters worse, and unlike previous GTA games, the player can be shot while sitting inside a vehicle (previously damage would only be done to the vehicle).
* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Incredibly, despite all the improvements in gameplay and improved abilities, the player still encounters ludicrously low obstacles all over the place that cannot be simply hopped over. In fact, occasionally the protagonist will even take damage when trying to jump over such things.
* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: [[spoiler: In "Friends Reunited", the Lost MC hold a funeral for their slain brothers in the middle of the night during a heavy thunderstorm. [[BattleInTheRain And then Trevor shows up. With sticky bombs]]]].
* {{Irony}}: The description for the [[TankGoodness Rhino]] on Warstock Cache N Carry states that it's "One of the few vehicles still manufactured in America." The irony is that the Rhino is based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_2 a German tank]].
* JokeItem:
** While it's amusing to see someone die from tear gas, it takes way too long for the gas to deploy to cause death. It is also very obvious, so it gives plenty of heads-up for would-be victims to get away. If you want to flush someone out of cover, you're better off using something less obvious, like a grenade, or faster, like a sticky bomb, or molotov cocktails (provided you can find them). Though it did get a buff in an update which makes killing slow/dumb [=NPC=]s more likely to happen.
** The [[http://gta.wikia.com/Tractor Stanley Tractor.]] It's very old, rusted, and it's the slowest vehicle in the game. You can get a unique one with a license plate from the Epsilon program, however.
** The Firework Launcher from the Independence Day Special update. While it does decent damage killing pedestrians with a direct hit and setting fire wherever it hits, you're better off using the Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Grenades, and Sticky Bombs against vehicles. (To be fair, however, the fireworks launcher was never intended to be used as an actual weapon.)
** The Musket from the same update isn't much better. While it does tremendous damage per shot and is very accurate it needs to reload between each shot and has a very slow reload time (just like the real thing) making it only a bit more effective against multiple armed assailants than melee weapons. It also burns holes in your wallet with extended use because it uses very expensive sniper rifle ammo.
** The SNS Pistol from the Beach Bum update. Only having slightly more damage per bullet than the AP Pistol doesn't make up for its pitifully low accuracy, range and 6 round magazine size. Though it is based on a real life joke weapon so it may be justified.
* LadyNotAppearingInThisGame: Actually averted for once. The woman on the phone on the cover and in game artwork is a stripper who is inconsequential to the plot, but at least she exists in the game (and, unlike the infamous prostitute Lola from GTA IV, who appears on the box cover but cannot be located in the game, players can not only interact with the stripper but she can become an optional "booty call"). The lady cop arresting the Love Fist fan are the only two characters in artwork who do not appear in the game, though GTA V does feature a number of female cops.
** According to the [[http://gta.wikia.com/Vasquez GTA wiki]], the lady cop appears in ''Online'' as the target of an assassination mission. Perhaps as a ShoutOut, her surname is "[[Film/{{Aliens}} Vasquez]]".
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Often when the player crashes a vehicle into something, the protagonist will complain ("My car!" etc.) Some of these complaints are clearly directed at the player. On the other hand, the protagonists will also compliment the player if he/she executes some fancy driving and avoids hitting anything.
** Leading up to the Merryweather heist, Michael dreads what a world full of Trevors would be like with people killing each other all the time while, naturally, Trevor loves the idea and says things would get done. This sounds a lot like ''[=GTA=] Online''.
** During his sessions with Dr. Friedlander, Michael says that he's had a series of sudden violent episodes and that that he feels he's not himself. One moment he's fine, the next "the red mist descends". Friedlander questions whether Michael is enjoying the mayhem and whether he feels like he's in control of his actions. Which makes sense at face value as a conversation about what it's like to be a violent nutcase, but it also makes sense as a conversation about what it's like to be a player character in a videogame who gets taken over by a foreign entity (i.e. the player) at random times and made to do awful things for that entity's entertainment.
* LimitedLoadout: Gloriously averted. You can carry any weapon in any category all at the same time.
* MadeOfExplodium: If the Jerry Can catches fire while being held, it will make a powerful explosion somehow.
** The DLC blimp. One hit from enemy aircraft fire and boom.
* MadeOfPlasticine
** [=NPC=]s that are not hostile {{Mooks}} or the police can't seem to handle head-on collisions when driving, even from certain hits that wouldn't damage the protagonists.
** Any NPC that is sitting down will die from any contact they can feel, even from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9r4mXlOHVk#t=227 a small bump to the leg]].
* MagneticWeapons: The railgun appears in the Next-Gen version of the game and acts as a sort of high velocity RPG.
* MalevolentMaskedMen: Most of the single-player heists have the protagonists donning masks for them. ''Online'' takes it a step further: you can equip and remove masks on the fly. If you remove your mask while wanted by police (or put it on in case you committed a crime "unmasked"), you'll even lose a wanted star. This not only works with masks but with any accessory (except parachutes) that can be changed on the fly, i.e. glasses, hats, masks, and helmet.
** Hilariously, this also works the other way around. If you've already lost a star by donning or removing a piece of accessory and then remove it or put it back on so you look like you did previously, you get that wanted star back again; e.g. rob a store wearing any mask to get a 2-star wanted level, remove mask to lose a star, put that mask back on to get back up to a 2-star level again.
* MayanDoomsday: Referenced by Ron in BCTR's "Blaine County Radio Community Hour" replay, stating they are less than three months away from that event, clearly dating the replay to originate from around September 2012.
* MoreDakka: GTA V ''loves'' this trope. You can increase the dakka output of most weapons by attaching extended magazines, up to & including automatic shotguns & light machine guns. The [[GatlingGood Minigun]] from GTA III series also made a comeback, and military jets & choppers can be used to rain [[DeathFromAbove dakka from above]]. Hell, there is even an ''achievement for firing more than '''4000''' bullets'' in the fourth heist.
* MultiplayerOnlyItem: Some cars available in Online do not show up in Singleplayer: specifically the Hijak Khameleon and Grotti Stinger GT from the core game.
** The Heists Update's gear as well. Wanted to drive an armored sports car for free? Too bad. Want to use a jump jet? No dice. Want a bike with KERS on it? Nope.
*** The last one is averted with the Vindicator from Ill-Gotten Gains part 2 being available, but the KERS doesn't even work as it would in ''Online''.
* TheNewTens: This game is the series' period piece for the early-to-mid [=2010s=], as did the ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV IV]]'' saga for [[TurnOfTheMillennium the late 2000s]]. The game takes place during an economic downturn, where class divisions are stark. By this time, smartphones have also become prolific, with Michael, Trevor and Franklin using {{exp|y}}ies of the [=iPhone=], Nokia Lumia, and Samsung Galaxy, respectively. Finally, in-game media takes into account the surge of interest in gender equality and gay rights, legalization of marijuana, gun rights, and a lot of people discuss misogyny one way or another, especially on the radio (and this being the ludicrous Radio/GTARadio, a lot of people argue in ''favor'' of it, of course).
* NighInvulnerable: Outside of the mission "Derailed", you cannot stop a moving train. No matter how many tanks or dump trucks are used to block the tunnel it goes through, the train will plow right through them. It can even take several sticky bombs and [=RPGs=]! This can be averted, though, with some well placed stickies in Online mode.
* OffscreenInertia: Averted. The other two characters you aren't in control of tend to do their own thing. So you can switch from Michael in his house to Franklin playing with Chop to [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Trevor throwing someone off a bridge]]. They also change clothes if you don't switch to them for a while, which is a rather subtle way of giving you a sense of them being "alive".
** If you switch to a character and hurry over to where you left the previous character, you can actually witness them get into their car and drive away. Sometimes you can even randomly encounter them driving around the city (which triggers interaction and the option for the two characters to share an activity).
** This feature comes in very handy if you get a character into a location where it's either impossible to leave or would require a very long drive/walk. (For example, sitting in a submersible miles off shore, or wandering around a remote mountaintop in the middle of the night in your underwear with no ammo and with mountain lions stalking you. What, this doesn't happen in real life?)
** It's also handy if you have a long drive ahead of you and want to do something more interesting: Set the GPS location in the map and then switch out to another character - when you switch back you'll find the first character on their way to the location you've marked for them. Leave them long enough and they'll get there on their own.
* OldSaveBonus: If you've got the game on the Seventh Generation consoles and connected to the Social Club, and then get the game for the Eighth Generation consoles and connect them to the Social Club as well, you get numerous bonuses, largely the ones available to the Special and Collectors editions of the previous games.
* PlayerGeneratedEconomy: Through the BAWSAQ stock market, handled by the Rockstar Social Club. If a lot of players are buying weapons from Ammu-Nation, or clothes from a particular shop, then their stocks will rise. A stock market is also available to non-Online players in the single-player game, but it's not as lucrative (unless one does the Assassination Investor missions) .
* PoliceBrutality: The cops in this game are much more relentless than in previous ones, especially to [=NPC=]s, where they would kill them outright all the time instead of arresting them. They will even attack and hunt down unarmed civilians if they do something as scratch their police car or accidentally hit them while panicking from other acts of violence.
* PoliticalStereotype: Many, many examples. For instance, the game's AttackOfThePoliticalAd between two gubernatorial candidates: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAu1ZNkmWLs an asshole (by his own admission) Republican who literally doesn't care about or have any plans to help anyone]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANRS5ohPW0E an overspending former schoolteacher who "can't wait to talk down to you."]]
* PollutedWasteland: San Andreas is shown to have serious environmental problems: As an exaggerated version of Los Angeles, Los Santos is depicted as having a smog problem, which is occasionally referenced or seen in game (One Weasel News report is about Los Santos competing with Beijing to see what city can have the worst air, and heavy smog sometimes covers the city). The Alamo Sea in Blaine County is described as being "a putrid, salt-rich lake whose waters are unlikely to be home to anything you'd want to go fishing for" with waters that can "burn through a man's lower intestine in seconds", [[GameplayAndStorySegregation though it is safe for swimming in-game]]. One of the single-player side-missions requires the player to retrieve 30 barrels of nuclear waste from the ocean floor, which were the result of a shipping accident detailed in a Weasel News report.
* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: Averted. Most characters stutter, correct themselves, or repeat what they say while talking.
* RealityEnsues:
** If not approached with care, the stock market is a very easy way to lose money.
** Jump at a wall while sprinting. Unlike in ''IV'', your character won't suddenly switch to an animation of them climbing up the wall: they'll [[FacePlant jump right into it]], fall over, and take minor damage.
** Fall into water from any significant height, and you die. In GTA IV it was possible to bail out of an aircraft sans parachute but survive so long as you landed in the water.
** A major example of this trope in contrast to previous GTA games: no longer will police magically forget about you if you enter a safehouse. They will not only follow you inside, but the ability to save is disabled if they still see you.[[note]]Saving when the police don't see you and having at most two stars still removes the wanted level.[[/note]] In previous GTA games, saving your game while in a safehouse automatically removed any wanted level regardless of whether you were seen or had a full wanted level bar.
** Pulling a gun on an NPC in a vehicle will usually result in them panicking and attempting to run you over.
** Averted in one respect: you can play golf during a raging thunderstorm. In real life, of course, this is a bad idea.
** Also averted in that it's possible to drive cars and trucks up impossibly steep terrain and through areas where, in reality, no off-road vehicle should be able to go. (For example, it's possible to drive a semi or a muscle sports car to the top of Mount Chiliad, even without using the trails.)
** Complete a heist mission and look at the amount of money obtained; then watch that amount plummet as team members take their cut and, if applicable, hospital bills are paid. [[spoiler: A prime example is the final heist where more than $200 million is stolen, but depending on actions taken and options chosen, the main characters might only get $40 million or less each.]]
** Some radio stations[[note]]namley the [[http://gta.wikia.com/West_Coast_Talk_Radio two talk]] [[http://gta.wikia.com/Blaine_County_Talk_Radio radio stations]][[/note]] have limited range and cannot be heard across the whole map.
* RegeneratingHealth: Only up to 50% of your character's health regenerates. After that you'll need to find health kits (or other methods) to restore the rest.
* RPGElements: Skills return from ''San Andreas'', albeit in a much improved form.
* RuleOfCool: The major upgrades from ''[=IV=]'' include this, from being able to swim underwater to sliding across the hood of a car.
* SawedOffShotgun: The most damaging shotgun, and has the added benefit of [[FiringOneHanded being able to be fired from motorbikes]], but has a ludicrously [[ShortRangeShotgun short range]].
* SceneryPorn: From the numerous skyscrapers of Los Santos to the vast countryside, this game is a feast for the eyes. Head up to the Vinewood sign (especially at night, when everything's all lit up) or to the top of Mt. Chiliad, and just sit back and enjoy the amazing draw distance.
** There's even an in-game tour bus you can hop aboard to see the landmarks of Vinewood (including a fantastic ground-level view of the sign). It serves no game purpose; it's just there (though the game does treat it as a "random encounter" so taking the tour can count towards 100% completion). And depending on when you hop the bus, you can enjoy most of the tour at night.
** Some versions of the game come with a DLC download of a pilotable blimp. Once you learn (often the hard way) which areas not to fly over, it can be used to enjoy the scenery from above in a more leisurely way than the fast-flying planes and helicopters (it's also quieter).
** Not only can you enjoy the map from above, you can also (in the blimp, and in a plane or helicopter provided they can go high enough) go high up into the sky, above the clouds, and it is ''beautiful''. Especially during a sunny day and at dawn or dusk.
** A number of scenic locations, [[spoiler: including one of the protagonists' safehouses]], come equipped with telescopes that serve no game purpose other than to let players enjoy the scenery.
* SequelEscalation: Rockstar has described the map as being bigger than those of ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'', ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV IV]]'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' put together, and then some to spare. On top of having a full-sized city, the game also features the surrounding countryside (much as was done with ''San Andreas'') and a vast, detailed ocean to explore. The primary difference is that there's just one very big urban area instead of three; no San Francisco or Las Vegas analogues.
** New side activities include scuba diving, buying stocks, customizing cars to your liking, riding on ATVs, tennis, yoga, nine-hole golf, biking, etc.
** The multiplayer has escalated too. In addition to the usual death matches and races IV had, V will let players buy things with their hard earned cash much like in the single player campaign such as a place to call their own. Players can also join gangs or form their own much like in Max Payne 3's multiplayer. GTA V also features a much larger array of character design options.
* ShapedLikeItself: ''Jack Howitzer Is Jack Howitzer In Jack Howitzer.''
* ShortRangeShotgun: Averted ''and'' played straight. The SawedOffShotgun is crazy deadly at close range, but significantly less so further away. The Pump Shotgun and Assault Shotgun are slightly less damaging, but have great range - not quite as good as the assault rifles, though. The SawedOffShotgun then gets trounced by the Heavy Shotgun, which combines the sawed-off's per-shot damage with even greater range than the next longest-reaching shotgun, the Bullpup Shotgun. This is because the weapon fires high-caliber slugs.
* SoftWater: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa_ABZLhLac This clip]] spectacularly illustrates this trope's aversion (though it should be noted that it shows someone attempting to fall into a shallow swimming pool; had the target been the ocean, the result would have been the same. In GTA IV it was possible to fall from such a height into a large body of water - though not a pool - and survive unharmed).
* SoundtrackDissonance: The radio can frequently lead to these moments, just like in past GTA games.
** West Coast Classics mostly plays hardcore west coast gangsta rap. But then there's Music/TooShort's "So You Wanna Be a Gangsta" and MC Eiht's [[Film/MenaceIISociety "Streiht-Up Menace"]], which really don't glorify the gangsta culture. Which is fitting, as the Too $hort and MC Eiht (as part of Compton's Most Wanted) songs featured in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'' didn't, either.
** Los Santos Rock Radio features a lot of laid-back soft rock. Music/{{Chicago}}'s "If You Leave Me Now" especially sticks out, except for [[spoiler: its use when Trevor has to drive Patricia Madrazo back home to Martin]]. Amusingly, much earlier in the game, the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes" starts to play as Trevor is in a rage, but he yells that "This music's ''all fuckin' wrong!''" and dodges this trope by switching the radio to Channel X's more mood-appropriate punk rock.
** Non-Stop-Pop FM is likely the biggest offender, allowing you to conduct violent criminal acts to songs like "[[Music/BackstreetBoys I Want It That Way]]". The same station also plays "[[Music/{{INXS}} New Sensation]]", which would have fitted better on Los Santos Rock Radio.
* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/GrandTheftAuto In this page.]]
* SuperCellReception: Your smartphone will work perfectly anywhere on the map, including subway tunnels, remote country roads surrounded by hills, the top of the tallest mountain in the state, or even in a submarine deep underwater.
** Strangely, however, GPS does not. Enter a tunnel and the GPS will cut out briefly.
* TakeCover: A much improved cover system from ''IV'' returns.
* TakeThat: Every website, show, movie, poster, commercial, not-plot-important line, and comment on the radio is an unfriendly dig or parody of something.
** [[Creator/FoxNewsChannel Weazel News]] is back, and as blunt as ever.
--->''Weazel News: Confirming Your Prejudices!''
** The [[{{Eagleland}} Republican Space Rangers]] return, once again keeping future America safe from encroaching feel-good socialism by becoming part of the "Coffee Grinder" political movement. They also gain a limousine-liberal counterpart in "Impotent Rage", a smug SmallNameBigEgo-type superhero who angrily derides those he disagrees with for being Neanderthals and brutes, yet solves all his problems with violence.
** The official website's travelogue for the Los Santos area contains [[http://www.rockstargames.com/V/lsbc/affordable-healthcare a slide]] advertising the city's healthcare. It notes that "Thanks to recent legislation, if you receive something as harmless as a scratch or as serious as a bullet wound, any of our state certified medical centers will patch you up and make sure the healthy bill is picked up by taxpayers", a possible take that at [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Obamacare]].
** While Blaine Country Talk Radio's Duane Earl is more of a general parody of conservative radio personalities (he usually sounds more like [[Radio/TrueCapitalist Ghost]] than Rush), the cooking program "Bless Your Heart" and its hostess Bobbi June are very obvious digs at celebrity chef Paula Deen.
** A parody of Website/{{Facebook}} called Lifeinvader, whose founder and CEO, Jay Norris, is a thin mix between Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs, who brags about how he has gotten rich on getting millions of people to voluntarily give up their private information. [[spoiler:In the single-player, one of the early missions has you blowing his head off on live TV with a bomb in a cell phone]].
** An internet advertisement for a book that is [[BlatantLies totally not]] ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' titled "Chains of Intimacy", that is soon to be a motion picture. The blurb reads as follows:
--->''Imagine if feminism never happened. Imagine a woman treated like a doormat covered with DNA. Imagine sex where she has to go to the hospital.''
** [[Website/{{Myspace}} MyRoom]], a very detailed website in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' has now virtually shut down because no one is going there anymore. What happened? [[Website/{{Facebook}} Lifeinvader]] happened.
** A lot of things in the game is a complete jab at pop culture staples, right from gamer's teabagging, to movies being green-screened more and more.
** Since this ''is'' a HollywoodCalifornia {{Expy}}, several potshots are aimed at [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed paper-thin parodies of celebrities]], and the StrawmanNewsMedia reporting about their lives. For example, [[http://www.rockstargames.com/V/lsbc/sightseeing-and-celebrity MC Clip]], a rapper who was reported to have held a 3-hour concert where he only spent 30 minutes actually performing, while he spent the other two-and-a-half hours [[ItsAllAboutMe preaching about how he is the most important American icon of the present]], is pretty much a CompositeCharacter of ''many'' modern rappers who frequently rant about how important they are.
** During one side mission, Michael smokes a joint of marijuana given to him by a legalization activist. His subsequent hallucination has him fighting aliens with a minigun in a purple haze, a likely reference to the purple-themed, alien-including ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' (''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' came out a month before GTA V). Made even funnier considering the marked gameplay similarities between GTA and the ''Saints Row'' series.
** Beverly is a TakeThat towards {{paparazzi}} and gossip journalists like Perez Hilton, who are obsessed with finding out every single detail of celebrities(even if it's through illegal means) and invading their private lives all for the purpose of "juicy" exclusive stories. Franklin calls Beverly out on this, asking him why he care so much what celebrities do in their own time and saying as much that it's none of their business.
** One news story on the radio talks about Los Santos' new "red and white" tram system costing billions of dollars and shutting down busy streets for years. This is a not-so-subtle dig at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Trams Edinburgh's trams]], which held up a number of busy streets, including Leith Walk, where Rockstar North's offices are located. In real life, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Rail_%28Los_Angeles_County%29 Los Angeles' subway system]] (the fact one even exists often surprises people) is also much-maligned.
** Michael says that FirstPersonShooter games are [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks "all the same."]]
** One political ad heard on the radio calls for laws making it mandatory that every man, woman and child should be armed to the teeth, in order to make Los Santos a safer place. Of course lampshaded by the many gunfights that seem to erupt at random throughout the game world, above and beyond what the player might decide to do between missions.
** "Toe Shoes" are a brand of foot-like shoes that are seen advertised throughout the game and are based on the RealLife Virbram [=FiveFingers=] which some people find tasteless and ugly. The advertisements clearly think so too with slogans like "Run like a caveman." and "Shoes for toes and twats."
* ThreateningShark: Among other animals, sharks appear in the game, and are quite dangerous if encountered.
* TooAwesomeToUse:
** Grenades and other explosive-based weapons can be this at times, due to their limited ammo capacities.
** The Karin Futo. While it is mostly based off the badass looking Toyota Corolla AE86, its tendency to drift makes it very hard to use with inexperienced drivers. It does, however give the benefit of being able to conserve a lot of speed around corners when drifting, which can make a big difference in races.
** The Hakuchou. It has amazing top speed, great acceleration (When modified) and can wheelie with ease, which makes the bike a great stunter and VERY fun to drive. The big downside? The handling. It often understeers around corners, doesn't corner very nicely around them, and has a very wide turning circle. This makes the bike, like the Futo, an expert's toy. Despite these problems, it is a very common bike in GTA Online, along with the Akuma (A streetfighter style acceleration rocket).
* TooFastToStop: A lot of the vehicles with high top speeds, but low traction and braking fall into this category. Most vehicles can be modded, but there is a limit to how much every model can be improved. The expensive Super vehicles, like the Cheetah, Entity, and Adder, as well as super-fast motorcycles like the Bati and Akuma, can have their amazing speed rendered completely useless as you skid, slide, and slam into everything in sight. Acquiring the aforementioned mods, and lowering the suspension will help somewhat, but players still need to be careful with elevation changes, because nothing can help you once you're airborne. Even a high Driving skill can't stop you from flying headfirst into a building.
* TookALevelInBadass: The cops in the [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV previous game]] frequently got attacked for their [[ArtificialStupidity almost hilariously bad AI]]. This game's cops are far more aggressive, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard make far more impossibly good shots]], and are much better at hounding you. If you decide to play sniper from a rooftop, better make sure there isn't a way to climb up nearby.
* UnorthodoxReload: The reload animation for the pump, sawn-off, and bullpup shotguns shows the player inserting only one shell, regardless of how many the player fired.
* WantedMeter: Going up to five stars instead of the traditional six. The system has been improved over IV, making the police search area less rigid and harder to evade, and giving the player new options - for instance, changing cars without the police seeing will allow you to drive right through the vision range doing anything that wouldn't get you one star normally. [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything Until they find where you dumped the old car, anyway, at which point they get really jumpy.]]
** You can even avoid line of sight with a little luck on a moving freeway if the police are moving on the opposite side from you and you can keep a semi truck or bus or other large vehicle between you and their sight line. Line of sight avoidance also works with parking garages.
* WideOpenSandbox: It's ''GTA'', of course. The sandboxing is taken to a new level, with a slew of incidental side missions and random encounters to find. It's also the first non-DLC console GTA to not have a BrokenBridge in the single-player, so the complete map is open from the start. After the game's initial release there were forum reports of players spending weeks just exploring the map before even starting the storyline missions.
* WouldHitAGirl: Aside from the fact any computer-controlled character is fair game if you want to play ti that way, in GTA V there are also female cops. While GTA IV had the voices of female police officers, only male cops ever appeared on screen. In GTA V if you get into a gunfight with the police, odds are some of your victims will be female.
* WorstAid: Paramedics are completely useless in this game. Whenever there's a pile of limp bodies lying around on the street, they'll just inspect them, immediately conclude that they're all dead, even if they were simply knocked out in a fight, and just leave the bodies there.
----
* AdultFear: A couple of the random events you can come across revolve around people luring you into traps; two of them are women that seem to be asking for help, only for you to be led into a robbery attempt.
* AdventureFriendlyWorld: Los Santos was designed to be spacious yet easy for the player to get what they need for their shenanigans. Case in point: despite the sky-high crime rate, the Ammu-Nation gun store will happily sell players whatever they need. No background checks, no waiting period, no paperwork, no questions asked. Despite this, funnily enough, Lamar still feels the need to point out that Franklin is the one who's paying for his and Stretch's shopping expenses, since they both have a criminal record and Franklin doesn't. It's later revealed that he does. What for, well, you'll have to find that out yourself.
* AmazonianBeauty: The female bodybuilders seen on Vespucci Beach, both buff and dressed in revealing bikinis.
* AnAssKickingChristmas: The ActionPrologue is set during Christmastime, as shown by the bank's lobby (the very first area you start in) being decked out for the occasion with lights and a tree. And ''Online'' celebrated Christmas by covering the entire map in snow and giving players access to Christmas-themed clothes and masks.
* ApatheticCitizens: Averted more than usual, in that various citizens will now actually call the police on their own if they see you steal a car (that, or they will come and beat you up themselves) or stand near them for too long.
** Park a cool car on the sidewalk and listen to some compliment it or pull out their phones to take a picture.
** It's a lot easier to antagonize a citizen. Look at them the wrong way and they'll attack you.
** Some citizens even seem to employ racial profiling; entering a convenience store as Franklin could result in someone attacking him or calling the cops, even if he hasn't done anything and isn't even armed.
* ArtificialStupidity
** An easy way to lose police helicopters is to go to the wind farm (the place with the giant windmills). The helicopters will stupidly follow you in, and will promptly be smashed to pieces by the blades on the windmills. If you picked a good pilot for the "Obvious" route of the final heist, they'll actually ''[[ArtificialBrilliance exploit]]'' this, flying into the turbines in an attempt to lose the helicopters (which works).
** A well-demonstrated case of enemies not detecting a fence in front of them in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he6pBnC7v8U this]] RoosterTeeth video.
** When playing as Michael or Franklin, you can sometimes find Trevor drinking and tossing grenades at a specific spot on his yard. While they function just like regular grenades, [=NPCs=] standing near that specific spot won't notice Trevor's grenades even if they're thrown right next to them.
** [=NPCs=] don't seem to notice cops nearby when they try to start fights with you or steal your vehicle. This often leads to them getting shot.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYLDh4De3lo Passenger jets are programmed in the game to take off on a runway without stopping]], no matter what is blocking their path. Even if there is another passenger jet blocking its path, the jet will still run into it.
** AI drivers can't seem to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhm9vzlZMt0 handle ramps well.]]
** The LSPD dread the train tunnels so much that they will stop chasing a player with a five-star wanted level if he/she enters one.
** Firemen will always try to extinguish any fires they can see, even ones coming from a vehicle that's on the verge of exploding.
** Paramedics will always closely examine a corpse even if it's on fire or placed near something ready to explode.
** Cops and other [=NPCs=] often seem to ignore basic hazards, such as people on fire or even ''their own tear gas'' and will walk through/over said hazards, even if it kills them. Holing up in a space with a single entrance and killing a few officers with some explosives will lead to the creation of a flaming barricade that only perpetuates itself as subsequent waves of officers come to breach the entrance, only to fall, screaming and on fire, over their still-burning comrades.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:
** The soldiers in and around Fort Zancudo wear Army-style grey camouflage and the symbol of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, but they often shout "Semper Fi" and call themselves Marines[[note]]Though they will ''also'' say "You fucked with the wrong soldier!"; [[InsistentTerminology No actual U.S. Marine would ever refer to themselves as soldiers.]][[/note]].
** They sometimes use the Type 56-2 Assault Rifle, a real-world Chinese version of the AK-47 imported in small amount during the 1980s for training purposes. This is mostly for balancing because the in-game AR15 variant is too powerful for the player to fight.
* AscendedGlitch: The in-air handling on the bikes isn't the most realistic, but it ''does'' allow for some [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmRcF07ipbw insane]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mLsZRiD6KI stunts]]. An entire "stunt community" emerged in the game to see who could pull off the best and most over-the-top jumps and tricks. As a result, when Rockstar patched the physics in the game so that motorcycles and bicycles handle more realistically when they're in the air, there was such an outcry that [[https://support.rockstargames.com/hc/communities/public/questions/200896917-Changes-to-GTAV-Motorcycle-and-Bike-Stunt-Physics they went back to the old physics]].
* AttackOfThePoliticalAd: As early as late 2013, the runoff to the 2014 midterm elections is already underway, so naturally we get web, radio and TV campaign ads from Jock Cranley (Republican) and Sue Murry (Democratic), candidates for governor of San Andreas, which, like [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV John Hunter and Michael Graves]] before them, focused on attacking their respective opponents over explaining their own agendas (which are no better than their opponent's).
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** The high-end military hardware (the Rhino tank, Buzzard helicopter and LAZER jet) are all incredibly expensive pieces of kit that are hard to acquire and have no practical use beyond causing mayhem. In fact, it's actually quite hard to use the latter two, as the guided missiles often miss and lining up shots with the cannons is extremely difficult. This is somewhat mitigated in Online, however: once purchased, the Rhino and Buzzard are available for use in Missions, which in some [[ThatOneLevel particularly frustrating cases]] makes them a lot easier.
** The Rat-Loader, a hard-to-find junker truck based on a 1930s round-nosed pickup, is highly sought after by players due to its wide array of outlandish, "rat-rod" style customization options. Performance-wise, though, it's the very definition of TheAllegedCar: it suffers from massive understeer (especially at high speed), takes forever to reach its top speed, always has trouble starting up no matter what condition it's in, and always looks rusted out no matter which custom paint job is applied.
** The Declasse Tornado. Yes, it does have some pretty cool modification and a pretty slick 50's coupe look, but without any engine mods it's just not practical for anything other than slow city cruising around the city of Los Santos. Plus it can only seat yourself and one person, making even the Sentinel look good by comparison.
** The minigun isn't quite what it used to be. While it can blow up vehicles, it doesn't do so nearly as fast as the grenade launcher or RPG. It can't be fired from cover either, so you have to stand out in the open to use it, which is often a death sentence. Furthermore, it chews up ammo really fast, and while it's certainly lethal against people, it's really more overkill than anything. Other guns can kill just as well without nearly as many drawbacks.
*** Using it also slows you down, and aiming for the weapon is permanently set to free aim, meaning that most of your shots are probably going to go off screaming into the wild blue yonder.
** [[CoolBike Motorcycles]] are this when it comes to chases. They're quick and agile but because [=NPC=] drivers [[RubberBandAI are always fast enough]] [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard to ram you no matter what they're driving]] and can [[PerfectPlayAI match you turn for turn]] it's only a matter of time before they ram you off your bike which is instant death in this game.
** The gold-painted Swift and the gold-painted Luxor are this, given that while they retain all the features of their more ordinary counterparts and gain a few extras, they're still $5.1 million and $10 million, respectively.
** The Declasse Moonbeam. The only van in the game to have proper sliding side doors, which means that players can use their heaviest non-explosive weapons by leaning out of the side of the van. Great in theory, except that even when upgraded it's still a big, sluggish van with large windows allowing clear shots to the occupants. The sliding doors also leave the passengers in the back completely exposed to gunfire they can't always return due to restricted aim.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Michael, having the most affluent lifestyle of the protagonists, has been depicted like this, several heists have the three protagonists don suits, and, naturally, a suit is an option for your ''Online'' character. As you can choose what the protagonists wear you can put Franklin in nice suits when he has enough money to shop at the mid and high end clothing stores. Try this with Trevor however and he tends to end up looking like an awkward user car salesman.
* BallisticDiscount: Technically possible to do this at Ammu-Nation, but not recommended for a few reasons. First, it's not possible to loot stores after killing the NPC's. Second, you ''can'' steal some money from the register, but it's so little compared to the amount you usually pay for a weapon that you might as well not bother. Third, the shopkeeper ''will'' [[ComputersAreFast pull his weapon out the moment and headshot you the moment he detects gunsights on him]].
* BankRobbery: A ''major part'' of this game involves this trope. How you pull them off is up to you.
* BilingualBonus: "Zonah" is Hebrew for "prostitute".
** In addition, many of the fake products featured in the game appear to be bilingual puns. For example, the beer Pißwasser (ß is pronounced s, wasser=water), or the effeminate male fashion Hommegina line (Homme=man).
** The security vans are from a company called ''Gruppe 6''. It sounds like a BlandNameProduct unless you pronounce 6 in German. 6 is ''sechs'', thus the company's name is actually ''Gruppe Sechs'' (Group Sex).
* BlandNameProduct: [[IProduct iFruit]], [[{{Facebook}} Lifeinvader]] and [[{{Twitter}} Bleeter]] are the obvious ones and a few from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' make a return as well. The three playable characters have a phone based on the three leading brands of smartphone (Michael's is based on the [=iPhone=], Franklin's on the Samsung Galaxy range and Trevor has one based on Nokia's Lumia range running Windows).
* BlindIdiotTranslation[=/=]YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: For the first time ''averted'' regarding the Spanish translation of the game: Unlike previous games, when only English or European Spanish subtitles are provided, the Latin American version of the game uses this time the Latin American dialect, rather than the European one. This also creates ''another'' problem: The "Latin American" dialect turns out to be ''Mexican street slang'' (and that used in Mexico City, to boot), so non-Mexican Latino players had lot of problems trying to figure out all the slang.
* BlingBlingBang: All ranged non-grenade weapons can be given gold or platinum tints. The Ill-Gotten Gains update adds very flashy finishes to a selection of weapons.
* BorderPatrol: There are sharks located around the edges of the map that will kill you if you swim too far out. If you try to fly or drive a boat to the edges of the map instead to bypass the sharks, once you reach a certain point your boat or plane will crash or stall and proceed to sink, leaving you [[OhCrap surrounded by half a dozen or more sharks with no escape]] (although if you're in single player mode, you can switch to another character and the character you will playing will manage to get back to land by his own devices if you wait a while before switching back).
* BoringButPractical
** The Carbine Rifle. Nothing fancy about it, but it has good firing rate and accuracy, can hold up to 60 rounds with extended magazines and has a very good zoom with the scope mod. In the single-player, you'll be using it for the majority of the game, as you unlock it upon completion of the first heist and its successor, the Advanced Rifle, isn't unlocked [[EleventhHourSuperpower until after the final heist]].
** The Micro SMG. It may have inferior accuracy and damage to your first pistol but it shoots much faster and just as far, making it a good weapon for drive-bys. It's also one of the first weapons you unlock in GTA Online and in single player mode and its superior, the AP Pistol, isn't available until much later.
*** the machine pistol, a DLC weapons, comes pretty close to to the AP pistol. It's a submachine gun, but it basically functions as an automatic pistol, hence it's name, and thus has good accuracy, damage, and can be used with one hand, so it can be used for drive bys. In addition it's a DLC weapon, so you basically get the AP pistol early with it. It also uses SMG ammo, witch is a small perk but one that can come up more frequently than would be expected.
** If you want to count weapons from updates the Heavy Pistol has this in spades. Kills most enemies in two shots, accurate and has a large 18 round magazine making it able to take down large amounts of enemies quickly before reloading. In single player it's unlocked immediately for free in your inventory when the update is installed and can be bought at any rank in GTA Online.
** The Elegy RH8. Sure it's not the fastest or fanciest sports car but it has good handling and most importantly is free to purchase in GTA online if you have a social club account making it a great vehicle to use if you're trying to save money but want an effective transport or are just starting out.
** The Marksman Pistol. As stated above the pistol is slow and takes a long time to reload, but at the same time that reload makes it one of the best defensive weapons in a shootout. As reloading causes your character to duck back behind cover and thus, in a good position, is safe for that duration. It may not cause much carnage, but its slow and steady style it has can help you stay out of the line of danger long enough to survive.
* BrokenBridge. The first GTA game to avert this. GTA V lets you explore the entire map (certain mission-specific interiors excepted) from the moment you gain control of a character.
* CallBack: In the mission "Father/Son," Jimmy is hanging from a moving vehicle and Michael has to drive underneath to catch him. In the final mission of VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas, Carl has to rescue his brother Sweet the exact same way.
* CarCushion: Averted to an extent. Fall from a high enough height onto a car and the impact will make the car explode.
* CelebrityParadox: Los Santos is an expy for Los Angeles, Alderney for New Jersey, and San Andreas for California. There are songs on the radio that mention California, Los Angeles Neighborhoods, and the song "Convoy" mentions the Jersey Shores.
* ChurchOfHappyology: Three different versions, one per character.
** Accessible to Michael is The Epsilon Program, making its return from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-xuQNQ1SLI is seriously weird]]. Since the game is taking place in a LosAngeles {{Expy}}, it's a TakeThat at The Church of Scientology itself, right down to the church's main building being an almost-exact replica of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Center in LA, and one of its ads mentions how its female members sleep with male movie stars [[Creator/TomCruise "so they can convince themselves they're straight."]]
** There's also the Children Of The Mountain run by Brother Adrian, whose site Franklin can pay thousands of dollars to, answer various questions (giving them a lot of personal info) and eventually get a T-Shirt. The website for it is filled with similarities to the real thing.
** Trevor can be involved with the Altruists who are the strangest of the bunch.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Franklin is light green, Michael is light blue, Trevor is orange, and the multiplayer character is dark blue (the space was yellow during the two weeks before GTA Online went live).
** The Epsilon Program (accessible by Michael) has light blue as its main motif. Everyone working for them wears light blue (including the special robes Michael has to buy for later missions), the cars and helicopter they drive in are light blue, the website background is light blue, and the logo on their building is light blue as well. This is probably to parody the fact that one of the Scientology [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology#mediaviewer/File:Church_of_Scientology_building_in_Los_Angeles,_Fountain_Avenue.jpg buildings]] in Los Angeles is painted light blue.
* CommonplaceRare: The Declasse Asea sedan. Logically it should be very common, being based off a Chevrolet Aveo/Dacia Logan but it doesn't spawn in the traffic at all -- there are only two appearances of it in single player (and only one instance of its appearance lets you take it, if you miss it or destroy it it's LostForever) and it can be only obtained at the start of GTA Online (and chosen in sedan races). Averted as of the Business Update in March 2014, in which several cars previously unavailable for purchase, including the Asea, can be purchased from one of the two in-game dealerships.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard
** Enemy [[NonPlayerCharacter [=NPC=]s]] are able to [[ImprobableAimingSkills blindfire from cover and still be able to hit you at sniper rifle range.]] This can be especially annoying in ''Online'', where it's not uncommon to be immediately gunned down the moment you step away from cover by [=NPC=]s who are a long distance away. This is especially prevalent when the police start sending helicopters after you. If you kill the pilot or destroy the tail rotor without killing the gunmen in the chopper, they will continue to shoot you as the helicopter crashes.
** Furthermore, the various updates to ''Online'' buffed enemy [=NPC=]s even more. They have [[MadeOfIron the durability of a tank]], [[ComputersAreFast faster reflexes]], and their bullets do more damage to you even when you're wielding the same gun as them. Try to 1v1 an enemy on hard difficulty, and he'll gun you down before you can even raise your weapon.
** Aerial attackers are often also gifted with pilots who have discovered the secret to avoiding the wobble that plagues every helicopter the player flies.
*** AI controlled fighter jets & attack choppers can fire their machine guns in any direction, regardless of where the nose of the aircraft is aimed.
*** The homing rockets are noticeably worse at tracking AI controlled aircraft than player controlled ones. It's not uncommon for homing rockets to ''curve around'' their target missing them entirely even if they are hovering in place or flying in a straight line.
** Police Cruisers are able to chase you down and ram you spinning off the road even if you're driving in a Truffade Adder, the fastest car in the game (if you're driving in a straight line). Even more egregiously, if you come up behind one and try to pass, ''he'll match you turn for turn.''
** The same is true when you're being chased by gangs. Their clunky [=SUV=]s and lowriders have no problem keeping up and ramming your supercar.
** Police cars and helicopters spawn very quickly and can even do so with you ''just outside their visual range''. You're going to have a hell of a time shaking them off at the higher wanted levels.
** In concept, when you elude the authorities and get the WantedMeter to start flashing, the cops have no idea where you are and will be on high alert as they patrol the area and look for you. In truth, they ''do'' know where you are and will circle straight to your position, going so far as to get out of their cars and walk into the alleyway, up the hill, or on top of the roof you just so happen to be hiding in, regardless if anyone actually saw you in the area. The only differences between this state and "high alert" are that they move more slowly than when they're on "alert", and they're less likely to do a 180 degree turn toward you. One (not 100%) reliable exception is train tunnels and similar covered areas, which they are disinclined to investigate.
*** A good example is if you manage to lose the police, somehow, and hide in a bush (A good idea for this is further away from the city, where police tend to spawn further away and from fewer directions) and watch. Even though the game ''does'' treat you as invisible in the bush as long as you don't come out of hiding, the police will still make their way in front of the bush and walk right up to it, still not seeing you and thus not restarting your wanted level, but still walking around it until your level vanishes.
** Hell, if spawning cops right in front of you doesn't work, the police will sometimes be able to refresh the wanted level regardless if anyone could realistically see you (like if you were hiding underground where they typically don't follow you into) or in really infuriating cases if ''there aren't even people in the area at all''. The chances of this happening increases as the wanted meter goes up which makes losing a five star wanted level impossible at times.
** The tanks in Fort Zancudo seem to have sharpshooters controlling them, being able to hit sports cars and muscle cars going over 100 mph.
** Flying the blimp (available as a DLC in some early promotions) has a major risk. Not only is it MadeOfExplodium, but if you fly over restricted airspace (specifically the military base), you will be warned to change course, as per usual, but a jet fighter will instantly spawn behind you and blow you out of the sky before you have a chance to react.
** Vehicles tend to be more durable if [[NonPlayerCharacter [=NPC=]s]] are driving them. The most egregious example is Police Mavericks which if flown by police [[MadeOfIron can easily soak up hundreds of assault rifle rounds without showing signs of damage]], yet if you are flying one all it takes is a [[MadeOfPlasticine dozen or so rounds from pistols for it to start smoking]]. Vehicles driven by [=NPC=]s can start up and operate with few problems no matter how damaged the engine is ignoring the usual aversion of CriticalExistenceFailure.
** Sometimes [=NPC=] characters, especially cops, can survive being in an exploding vehicle (which in every game in the series [[OneHitKill is fatal no questions asked for the player]]), getting out after the explosion, but on fire, which is rarely fatal. Especially annoying if [[EliteMooks NOOSE]] does this when you try to use explosives to thin them out.
** Some curious people looking at the code to give players wanted levels found that pedestrians can get the police sent after players ''without even pulling out their phones''. What's worse, even ''wild animals'' can contact the police!
* CombatPragmatist: The players are obviously this if they choose but the AI does this too. Beat down enough gang members with a melee weapon and the rest of the gang [[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight will pull out their guns]] and gladly ignore MookChivalry.
* ContinuityNod: Works with BroadStrokes and AlternateUniverse. There's enough nods to imply events ''similar'' to the 3D universe happened.
** Radio host Lazlow more or less continues his downward slide from GTA IV, in which he appeared to be the only character who remembers some of the events that happened in the GTA III universe.
** Another GTA III character, Fernando, also rejoins the franchise and makes reference to his behavior in ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas''.
** A number of dialogue references are made to characters and events in ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' (with [[spoiler: several characters from that game and its DLCs appearing]]).
* ContinuitySnarl: The online portion of the game is set several months before the single player story but the TV shows Tracey De Santa on Fame Or Shame's finale with Lazlow saying he's being threatened to get Tracey to win, which happens in single player.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Nervous Ron's show on Blaine County Talk Radio, which is less Alex Jones and more ''Series/TheXFiles'' with a bit of ''Film/TheMatrix''.
** Ironically, [[spoiler: achieving 100% completion in single player actually proves some of the conspiracies true!]]
* CoolCar: This being Los Santos, there are a few cars that are just begging to be plucked.
* CoolPlane: Planes (including fighter jets) make a return.
** A flyable version of the blimp was made available as a DLC in some early promotions.
** The Vestra which appears in both ''Online'' and ''Single Player'' after the ''Business Update''. It's almost worth a million dollars in ''Online'', but it's the fastest plane, even faster than the Luxor and has the agility of a Mallard, making it one of the better planes to own.
** For the first time, it's also possible to pilot large aircraft such as [[http://gta.wikia.com/Cargo_Plane cargo]] [[http://gta.wikia.com/Titan planes]] and [[http://gta.wikia.com/Jet passenger airliners]].
** ''The San Andreas Flight School'' gave us the Besra training jet. It has the best agility of any plane, even outperforming the Vestra and Mallard, making it perfect for stunts and fancy maneuvering.
* CoolButInefficient:
** The Musket introduced in the Independence Day Special does high damage and has good accuracy and range, but it's ''slow'' to reload (roughly 5 seconds) after only one shot. Not an ideal weapon to use against cops.
** The Fireworks Launcher from the same update does decent damage, but the player is better off with other explosive weapons that will guarantee kills. It's just there to make, well, fireworks. Also, ammo is only available during firework related holidays, otherwise your stuck with the limited ammo that you managed to buy.
** The Homing Launcher introduced in the Festive Surprise. It's basically like the standard rocket launcher, with the added effect of being able to lock on to moving vehicles. However, the player can only carry 10 rockets at a time (as opposed to 20 for the standard rocket launcher), it takes a few seconds to lock on, and it's ''still possible to miss'' if the target is moving right.
** The Vintage Pistol from the Hipster Update is a cool antique pistol with custom engravings and a shiny nickel finish but has terrible range, accuracy and a very small magazine size that is only better than the [[JokeItem SNS Pistol]]. Probably intentional considering the little respect hipsters get in this setting.
** The MG. Overall, it's a good weapon. It has good damage, good range, and with extended mags, a large 100-round magazine. However, in singleplayer it falls into this trope. Why? Because its superior, the Combat MG, is unlocked before it.[[note]]To elaborate, the MG is unlocked after The Paleto Score, while the Combat MG is unlocked after Blitz Play. In fact, Michael is given one for free ''during'' said mission (and with a scope and a grip to boot!)[[/note]] This, combined with the MG's lackluster stats compared to the Combat MG, means that the only time the average player might actually use the MG is in Online.
** The Advanced Rifle, for being an EleventhHourSuperpower. As mentioned below, it's unlocked after The Big Score, which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't ''the second-to-last story mission in the entire game''. Furthermore, depending on which ending you chose, you might not even be able to use the gun in the final mission.[[note]]If you pick Option A, the only opportunity to use the gun is at the end, but after the cutscene, Frank pulls out a pistol. Many players are probably going to use that to shoot the target instead. Meanwhile, in Option B, the player doesn't even kill the target via shooting him.[[/note]] Subverted if you picked the Obvious route for The Big Score, where Mike & Frank are given Advanced Rifles with extended magazines.
** The Marksman Pistol from the Ill Gotten Gains Part 2 Update is a powerful HandCannon, taking down any NPC in one shot, even if it's a body shot; however, it has many of the same drawbacks of the Musket, such as being a single shot weapon and having a slow and cumbersome reload.
* CrapsackWorld[=/=]DysfunctionJunction: [[UpToEleven Ho, boy.]] Basically, the setting of the game is a conglomeration of all the worst people and all the worst traits in [[{{Eagleland}} American culture]]: fame and celebrity obsession, materialism, social Darwinism, xenophobia, narcissism, and more, with virtually every character -- including many minorities -- exhibiting at least one of these. Naturally, the negative portrayal of the minority characters landed the game into quite a bit of controversy, some of it from PoesLaw, some of it because negative portrayals of minorities are (to some) [[OnceAcceptableTarget unacceptable in ANY circumstance,]] setting and context be damned.\\
There ''are'' in-universe efforts to fight this corruption and lack of good nature, and as with ''GTA IV'' some character exhibit morality that would be admirable even in the real world. These people usually suffer at the hands of the corrupt and injust, however, and at times on the whole it seems they simply cannot stand against the bleak world they live in. [[spoiler:A man leading a protest against gun violence, after a protester is killed the day before by a shooting, gets killed by a ''knife'' during his own protest. Things just don't go right for good people.]]
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted with the [=NPCs=] in this game in regards to gunfights. Shoot them enough times with a weak pistol and they will be on the ground moaning in pain until they bleed out, sometimes trying to shoot back. Played straight in fistfights, however.
** Overall the player takes fairly low damage when hit by cars (though significantly more than in ''IV''), except ones going at very high speeds; even these rarely take away more than 50% of the player's health. However, if you get caught under a vehicle or its tires roll over you even once, it's ''instant death''.
* DamnYouMuscleMemory:
** Play a rousing few hours of ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' and then switch to ''V''. Call for a taxi, and curse in frustration as you accidentally jack the taxi when you meant to get in as a passenger.
** Players used to the control scheme of the previous game may also run into trouble when trying to switch weapons or radio stations.
** And unlike GTA IV, there appears to be no option for reverting to the GTA III-era control scheme, likely due to the addition of new controls such as a weapon wheel and character switching.
* DarkerAndEdgier[=/=]BloodierAndGorier: Surprisingly, yes. [[EvilVersusEvil Protagonists and antagonists are straight villains]], and several characters are total [[AxCrazy psychos]] (Trevor, Steve, Dreyfuss, the Altruists...), not to mention that Rockstar has added extremely graphic content, including sexually explicit moments and extremely disturbing content, with the ColdBloodedTorture scene being the most prominent.
** If anything, this is more or less a {{Reconstruction}} of the LighterAndSofter trope. BlackComedy UpToEleven and Michael's backstory in this game is by far less dark than [[GrandTheftAutoIV Niko's backstory]].
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist
** Perhaps more than ever before. You don't lose any inventory, and just respawn at the nearest clinic minus a not-insignificant percentage of your cash ([[MoneyForNothing boo hoo]], it can never exceed $5,000 which is chump change if your character has millions). And with the cops more trigger-happy than ever, you may never even find out what happens when you get busted.
** It's not even an issue in missions anymore. If you are wasted or busted during a mission, a "Mission Failed" screen appears and the player has the option of retrying from the last checkpoint which means no penalty at all. And, after three fails, there's even the option to skip that section of the mission again without penalty. However, certain gold medal objectives ''must'' be cleared on a single clean playthrough; using a checkpoint/skip will lock those objectives out unless replayed.
** Also the creation of [[http://www.lifeinvader.com/profile/warstock_cache_n_carry Lifeinvader]], a parody of {{Facebook}}, which can be used to get in-game deals and bonuses.
* DeepSouth:
** Many of the residents of Blaine County speak with deep southern accents.
** Lampshaded by a radio ad for an upcoming video game called ''Pride, Not Prejudice'', a first-person shooter taking place in the South and employing every Southern stereotype this trope covers.
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: This being a GTA game, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything/GrandTheftAuto it's part of a large sub page.]]
* DifficultButAwesome: Supercars and high end sports cars tend to be this, due to the high speeds they can crash with relative ease and their somewhat low braking making it more likely that you'll stop by hitting, say, that wall in front of you or other drivers than the breaks doing their job. That said, if you can figure out when to apply the brakes such that you don't stop dead at the turn or miss it completely, they quickly become very worthwhile.
* EasterEggs: Oh so very many, with many visible in both the online and single-player versions. There are websites devoted simply to unravelling some of the cryptic clues involving [=UFOs=] (and possibly even a jetpack) scattered around the game map which have nothing to do with the storyline. The game world also includes countless shoutouts to past GTA games and characters, other Rockstar games, and there's even a surprisingly accurate recreation of the Playboy Mansion (complete with grotto) if you know where to find it. There are also many locations that can be explored that have no actual gameplay function in either single-player or online; they're just there to make the world more complete.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: As per series tradition. This time around, the player can pour a VaporTrail of gasoline and watch the fireworks but [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything only if it's powered by an engine.]] And even then, electric vehicles can explode when shot with explosives or if you land the vehicle wrong from a high height.
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: The Altruists' web site is entirely in Morse code except for the title.
* FirstPersonShooter: The Next-Gen version now allows you to see from a first-person perspective and not only shoot like in a FPS, but also drive, fly, and swim as well.
* GameBreakingBug
** There is one where accessing the home page using the in-game browser causes it to close immediately, messing up the HUD and disabling access to most of the functions of the cell phone, including the internet. This makes it impossible to do the Epsilon missions and purchase vehicles and property in Online mode with that save.
** Occasionally the player's skill bar "breaks" and refuses to fill up. The only solution is quitting the game and restarting from the last save point.
* GatlingGood: The minigun (albeit a more realistic version) reappears, after being absent from ''IV''.
* GenderFlip: ''GTAV'' features female cops for the first time in the series, though usually they're only found hanging around hospitals and police stations. (Female cops did exist in ''GTA IV'' but only their voices were heard, even during battles.)
* GeniusProgramming: The game is described as being an absolute marvel of game programming, considering how much content they managed to pack into a eight-year-old system while improving things such as graphics and character design from the previous game.
* GlassCannon: All player characters are like this compared to the ones from earlier installments. You overall die faster and their are far more things that instantly kill you (compare explosions which were survivable with full armor and in the outer area of the blast in the [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV previous game]] but are always death here) but the weapons you can get are more destructive and you can carry every weapon in the game.
* GottaCatchThemAll: As per usual for GTA, there's an insane amount of collectibles that need to be tracked down in order to reach 100% completion. Unlike GTA IV, though, which offered a whole lot of nothing for the effort, getting 100% completion in GTA V [[spoiler: unlocks an exclusive mission as well as some cool aesthetic features in the game world.]]
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: In addition to the [[{{FBI}} FIB]] from ''IV'', there's also the IAA serving as a stand-in for the {{CIA}}, apparently carrying on an InterserviceRivalry with the FIB.
* GuideDangIt: Due to the size of the map, walkthroughs or other guides are pretty much the only way of finding the locations where some of the random events/encounters may take place, especially those that may result in valuable crew members being added, unless the player is willing to aimlessly drive up and down every street on the map hoping for something to happen.
** A guide is ''definitely'' required for locating weapon, armor and collectible pick-up locations, especially as the former two are very rare. And if you want to locate the knife flights, you pretty much need a guide too as unlike stunt jumps (usually denoted by ramps) and under the bridge stunts (which are the easiest to locate because, duh), where knife flights need to be done are not obvious in any way (hint: tall buildings are ''not'' a prerequisite. Now find them all on your own).
** Or for knowing who ''not'' to kill, or deliver to the Altruist Cult, among the random characters encountered.
* HandCannon: The Marksman Pistol from the Ill Gotten Gains Part 2 Update. It can take down even armored NOOSE agents in one shot, but the weapon has a slow reload.
** For an idea on how strong it is, the marksman pistol's shot is tested to be stronger than the ''heavy sniper rifle'', which, in Online, can [[OneHitKill one-shot]] a player with a hit ''anywhere on the body''.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Averted, finally. After being only featured as a radio voice (and real-life behind-the-scenes script writer) since GTA III, [[spoiler: Lazlow finally appears on screen as part of several missions. The player even gets to do nasty things to him, though he can't be killed]].
* HideYourChildren: GTA V continues the tradition of children being totally absent from the world, despite the existence of playgrounds. Also, like ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', juvenile and baby animals are totally absent from the world. However, [[ShowWithinAShow two of the four TV cartoons featured in the game]] have children and teens in them. There is a newsboy who shows up in very beginning of "Gordon Moorehead Rides Again," a boy in the ad for the show, and a girl and a boy in the Redwood cigarettes commercial. There are teens in "Kung Fu Rainbow Lazer Force," including the five main protagonists of the show.
* {{Hipster}}:
** Trevor absolutely ''hates'' hipsters, to the point where his final Rampage side-mission has him shooting up the hipster enclave of Mirror Park. Of course, as Michael is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ot_Um1sGE keen to point out]], Trevor fulfills pretty much all the items on the hipster checklist -- his lifestyle, his manner of dress, his total rejection of good taste, the place he lives, and of course, the fact that he's adamant about not being a hipster.
** The online mode also added a hipster-themed item pack, which includes hipster fashions and hairstyles, "ironic" tattoos, retro cars, and even an antique cavalry dagger and a old-fashioned pistol as new weapons. Its name, of course, is the "I'm Not a Hipster" pack (named after something Trevor says when he rants about Michael calling him a hipster during a storyline cutscene).
* HollerButton[=/=]IShallTauntYou: If you enter a car without a weapon equipped, pressing the drive-by button will cause your character to [[FlippingTheBird flip the bird]] at anyone passing by. In single player, pressing right on the D-Pad will also make your character speak to [=NPC=]s near them, with unique dialogue depending on the NPC you're speaking to.
* HollywoodCalifornia
* HyperspaceArsenal: In the proud GTA tradition. To make weapon selection less tedious, a ''RedDeadRedemption''-style weapon wheel has been added.
** Made even more obvious at points in the game where Michael or Trevor find himself wearing only his underwear -- ''but he has complete access to his entire arsenal'', including the gargantuan minigun.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Annoyingly, enemies seems to possess this. Many a player has been iced from dozens of feet away by a {{Mook}} with a basic pistol. Making matters worse, and unlike previous GTA games, the player can be shot while sitting inside a vehicle (previously damage would only be done to the vehicle).
* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Incredibly, despite all the improvements in gameplay and improved abilities, the player still encounters ludicrously low obstacles all over the place that cannot be simply hopped over. In fact, occasionally the protagonist will even take damage when trying to jump over such things.
* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: [[spoiler: In "Friends Reunited", the Lost MC hold a funeral for their slain brothers in the middle of the night during a heavy thunderstorm. [[BattleInTheRain And then Trevor shows up. With sticky bombs]]]].
* {{Irony}}: The description for the [[TankGoodness Rhino]] on Warstock Cache N Carry states that it's "One of the few vehicles still manufactured in America." The irony is that the Rhino is based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_2 a German tank]].
* JokeItem:
** While it's amusing to see someone die from tear gas, it takes way too long for the gas to deploy to cause death. It is also very obvious, so it gives plenty of heads-up for would-be victims to get away. If you want to flush someone out of cover, you're better off using something less obvious, like a grenade, or faster, like a sticky bomb, or molotov cocktails (provided you can find them). Though it did get a buff in an update which makes killing slow/dumb [=NPC=]s more likely to happen.
** The [[http://gta.wikia.com/Tractor Stanley Tractor.]] It's very old, rusted, and it's the slowest vehicle in the game. You can get a unique one with a license plate from the Epsilon program, however.
** The Firework Launcher from the Independence Day Special update. While it does decent damage killing pedestrians with a direct hit and setting fire wherever it hits, you're better off using the Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Grenades, and Sticky Bombs against vehicles. (To be fair, however, the fireworks launcher was never intended to be used as an actual weapon.)
** The Musket from the same update isn't much better. While it does tremendous damage per shot and is very accurate it needs to reload between each shot and has a very slow reload time (just like the real thing) making it only a bit more effective against multiple armed assailants than melee weapons. It also burns holes in your wallet with extended use because it uses very expensive sniper rifle ammo.
** The SNS Pistol from the Beach Bum update. Only having slightly more damage per bullet than the AP Pistol doesn't make up for its pitifully low accuracy, range and 6 round magazine size. Though it is based on a real life joke weapon so it may be justified.
* LadyNotAppearingInThisGame: Actually averted for once. The woman on the phone on the cover and in game artwork is a stripper who is inconsequential to the plot, but at least she exists in the game (and, unlike the infamous prostitute Lola from GTA IV, who appears on the box cover but cannot be located in the game, players can not only interact with the stripper but she can become an optional "booty call"). The lady cop arresting the Love Fist fan are the only two characters in artwork who do not appear in the game, though GTA V does feature a number of female cops.
** According to the [[http://gta.wikia.com/Vasquez GTA wiki]], the lady cop appears in ''Online'' as the target of an assassination mission. Perhaps as a ShoutOut, her surname is "[[Film/{{Aliens}} Vasquez]]".
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Often when the player crashes a vehicle into something, the protagonist will complain ("My car!" etc.) Some of these complaints are clearly directed at the player. On the other hand, the protagonists will also compliment the player if he/she executes some fancy driving and avoids hitting anything.
** Leading up to the Merryweather heist, Michael dreads what a world full of Trevors would be like with people killing each other all the time while, naturally, Trevor loves the idea and says things would get done. This sounds a lot like ''[=GTA=] Online''.
** During his sessions with Dr. Friedlander, Michael says that he's had a series of sudden violent episodes and that that he feels he's not himself. One moment he's fine, the next "the red mist descends". Friedlander questions whether Michael is enjoying the mayhem and whether he feels like he's in control of his actions. Which makes sense at face value as a conversation about what it's like to be a violent nutcase, but it also makes sense as a conversation about what it's like to be a player character in a videogame who gets taken over by a foreign entity (i.e. the player) at random times and made to do awful things for that entity's entertainment.
* LimitedLoadout: Gloriously averted. You can carry any weapon in any category all at the same time.
* MadeOfExplodium: If the Jerry Can catches fire while being held, it will make a powerful explosion somehow.
** The DLC blimp. One hit from enemy aircraft fire and boom.
* MadeOfPlasticine
** [=NPC=]s that are not hostile {{Mooks}} or the police can't seem to handle head-on collisions when driving, even from certain hits that wouldn't damage the protagonists.
** Any NPC that is sitting down will die from any contact they can feel, even from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9r4mXlOHVk#t=227 a small bump to the leg]].
* MagneticWeapons: The railgun appears in the Next-Gen version of the game and acts as a sort of high velocity RPG.
* MalevolentMaskedMen: Most of the single-player heists have the protagonists donning masks for them. ''Online'' takes it a step further: you can equip and remove masks on the fly. If you remove your mask while wanted by police (or put it on in case you committed a crime "unmasked"), you'll even lose a wanted star. This not only works with masks but with any accessory (except parachutes) that can be changed on the fly, i.e. glasses, hats, masks, and helmet.
** Hilariously, this also works the other way around. If you've already lost a star by donning or removing a piece of accessory and then remove it or put it back on so you look like you did previously, you get that wanted star back again; e.g. rob a store wearing any mask to get a 2-star wanted level, remove mask to lose a star, put that mask back on to get back up to a 2-star level again.
* MayanDoomsday: Referenced by Ron in BCTR's "Blaine County Radio Community Hour" replay, stating they are less than three months away from that event, clearly dating the replay to originate from around September 2012.
* MoreDakka: GTA V ''loves'' this trope. You can increase the dakka output of most weapons by attaching extended magazines, up to & including automatic shotguns & light machine guns. The [[GatlingGood Minigun]] from GTA III series also made a comeback, and military jets & choppers can be used to rain [[DeathFromAbove dakka from above]]. Hell, there is even an ''achievement for firing more than '''4000''' bullets'' in the fourth heist.
* MultiplayerOnlyItem: Some cars available in Online do not show up in Singleplayer: specifically the Hijak Khameleon and Grotti Stinger GT from the core game.
** The Heists Update's gear as well. Wanted to drive an armored sports car for free? Too bad. Want to use a jump jet? No dice. Want a bike with KERS on it? Nope.
*** The last one is averted with the Vindicator from Ill-Gotten Gains part 2 being available, but the KERS doesn't even work as it would in ''Online''.
* TheNewTens: This game is the series' period piece for the early-to-mid [=2010s=], as did the ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV IV]]'' saga for [[TurnOfTheMillennium the late 2000s]]. The game takes place during an economic downturn, where class divisions are stark. By this time, smartphones have also become prolific, with Michael, Trevor and Franklin using {{exp|y}}ies of the [=iPhone=], Nokia Lumia, and Samsung Galaxy, respectively. Finally, in-game media takes into account the surge of interest in gender equality and gay rights, legalization of marijuana, gun rights, and a lot of people discuss misogyny one way or another, especially on the radio (and this being the ludicrous Radio/GTARadio, a lot of people argue in ''favor'' of it, of course).
* NighInvulnerable: Outside of the mission "Derailed", you cannot stop a moving train. No matter how many tanks or dump trucks are used to block the tunnel it goes through, the train will plow right through them. It can even take several sticky bombs and [=RPGs=]! This can be averted, though, with some well placed stickies in Online mode.
* OffscreenInertia: Averted. The other two characters you aren't in control of tend to do their own thing. So you can switch from Michael in his house to Franklin playing with Chop to [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Trevor throwing someone off a bridge]]. They also change clothes if you don't switch to them for a while, which is a rather subtle way of giving you a sense of them being "alive".
** If you switch to a character and hurry over to where you left the previous character, you can actually witness them get into their car and drive away. Sometimes you can even randomly encounter them driving around the city (which triggers interaction and the option for the two characters to share an activity).
** This feature comes in very handy if you get a character into a location where it's either impossible to leave or would require a very long drive/walk. (For example, sitting in a submersible miles off shore, or wandering around a remote mountaintop in the middle of the night in your underwear with no ammo and with mountain lions stalking you. What, this doesn't happen in real life?)
** It's also handy if you have a long drive ahead of you and want to do something more interesting: Set the GPS location in the map and then switch out to another character - when you switch back you'll find the first character on their way to the location you've marked for them. Leave them long enough and they'll get there on their own.
* OldSaveBonus: If you've got the game on the Seventh Generation consoles and connected to the Social Club, and then get the game for the Eighth Generation consoles and connect them to the Social Club as well, you get numerous bonuses, largely the ones available to the Special and Collectors editions of the previous games.
* PlayerGeneratedEconomy: Through the BAWSAQ stock market, handled by the Rockstar Social Club. If a lot of players are buying weapons from Ammu-Nation, or clothes from a particular shop, then their stocks will rise. A stock market is also available to non-Online players in the single-player game, but it's not as lucrative (unless one does the Assassination Investor missions) .
* PoliceBrutality: The cops in this game are much more relentless than in previous ones, especially to [=NPC=]s, where they would kill them outright all the time instead of arresting them. They will even attack and hunt down unarmed civilians if they do something as scratch their police car or accidentally hit them while panicking from other acts of violence.
* PoliticalStereotype: Many, many examples. For instance, the game's AttackOfThePoliticalAd between two gubernatorial candidates: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAu1ZNkmWLs an asshole (by his own admission) Republican who literally doesn't care about or have any plans to help anyone]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANRS5ohPW0E an overspending former schoolteacher who "can't wait to talk down to you."]]
* PollutedWasteland: San Andreas is shown to have serious environmental problems: As an exaggerated version of Los Angeles, Los Santos is depicted as having a smog problem, which is occasionally referenced or seen in game (One Weasel News report is about Los Santos competing with Beijing to see what city can have the worst air, and heavy smog sometimes covers the city). The Alamo Sea in Blaine County is described as being "a putrid, salt-rich lake whose waters are unlikely to be home to anything you'd want to go fishing for" with waters that can "burn through a man's lower intestine in seconds", [[GameplayAndStorySegregation though it is safe for swimming in-game]]. One of the single-player side-missions requires the player to retrieve 30 barrels of nuclear waste from the ocean floor, which were the result of a shipping accident detailed in a Weasel News report.
* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: Averted. Most characters stutter, correct themselves, or repeat what they say while talking.
* RealityEnsues:
** If not approached with care, the stock market is a very easy way to lose money.
** Jump at a wall while sprinting. Unlike in ''IV'', your character won't suddenly switch to an animation of them climbing up the wall: they'll [[FacePlant jump right into it]], fall over, and take minor damage.
** Fall into water from any significant height, and you die. In GTA IV it was possible to bail out of an aircraft sans parachute but survive so long as you landed in the water.
** A major example of this trope in contrast to previous GTA games: no longer will police magically forget about you if you enter a safehouse. They will not only follow you inside, but the ability to save is disabled if they still see you.[[note]]Saving when the police don't see you and having at most two stars still removes the wanted level.[[/note]] In previous GTA games, saving your game while in a safehouse automatically removed any wanted level regardless of whether you were seen or had a full wanted level bar.
** Pulling a gun on an NPC in a vehicle will usually result in them panicking and attempting to run you over.
** Averted in one respect: you can play golf during a raging thunderstorm. In real life, of course, this is a bad idea.
** Also averted in that it's possible to drive cars and trucks up impossibly steep terrain and through areas where, in reality, no off-road vehicle should be able to go. (For example, it's possible to drive a semi or a muscle sports car to the top of Mount Chiliad, even without using the trails.)
** Complete a heist mission and look at the amount of money obtained; then watch that amount plummet as team members take their cut and, if applicable, hospital bills are paid. [[spoiler: A prime example is the final heist where more than $200 million is stolen, but depending on actions taken and options chosen, the main characters might only get $40 million or less each.]]
** Some radio stations[[note]]namley the [[http://gta.wikia.com/West_Coast_Talk_Radio two talk]] [[http://gta.wikia.com/Blaine_County_Talk_Radio radio stations]][[/note]] have limited range and cannot be heard across the whole map.
* RegeneratingHealth: Only up to 50% of your character's health regenerates. After that you'll need to find health kits (or other methods) to restore the rest.
* RPGElements: Skills return from ''San Andreas'', albeit in a much improved form.
* RuleOfCool: The major upgrades from ''[=IV=]'' include this, from being able to swim underwater to sliding across the hood of a car.
* SawedOffShotgun: The most damaging shotgun, and has the added benefit of [[FiringOneHanded being able to be fired from motorbikes]], but has a ludicrously [[ShortRangeShotgun short range]].
* SceneryPorn: From the numerous skyscrapers of Los Santos to the vast countryside, this game is a feast for the eyes. Head up to the Vinewood sign (especially at night, when everything's all lit up) or to the top of Mt. Chiliad, and just sit back and enjoy the amazing draw distance.
** There's even an in-game tour bus you can hop aboard to see the landmarks of Vinewood (including a fantastic ground-level view of the sign). It serves no game purpose; it's just there (though the game does treat it as a "random encounter" so taking the tour can count towards 100% completion). And depending on when you hop the bus, you can enjoy most of the tour at night.
** Some versions of the game come with a DLC download of a pilotable blimp. Once you learn (often the hard way) which areas not to fly over, it can be used to enjoy the scenery from above in a more leisurely way than the fast-flying planes and helicopters (it's also quieter).
** Not only can you enjoy the map from above, you can also (in the blimp, and in a plane or helicopter provided they can go high enough) go high up into the sky, above the clouds, and it is ''beautiful''. Especially during a sunny day and at dawn or dusk.
** A number of scenic locations, [[spoiler: including one of the protagonists' safehouses]], come equipped with telescopes that serve no game purpose other than to let players enjoy the scenery.
* SequelEscalation: Rockstar has described the map as being bigger than those of ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'', ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV IV]]'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' put together, and then some to spare. On top of having a full-sized city, the game also features the surrounding countryside (much as was done with ''San Andreas'') and a vast, detailed ocean to explore. The primary difference is that there's just one very big urban area instead of three; no San Francisco or Las Vegas analogues.
** New side activities include scuba diving, buying stocks, customizing cars to your liking, riding on ATVs, tennis, yoga, nine-hole golf, biking, etc.
** The multiplayer has escalated too. In addition to the usual death matches and races IV had, V will let players buy things with their hard earned cash much like in the single player campaign such as a place to call their own. Players can also join gangs or form their own much like in Max Payne 3's multiplayer. GTA V also features a much larger array of character design options.
* ShapedLikeItself: ''Jack Howitzer Is Jack Howitzer In Jack Howitzer.''
* ShortRangeShotgun: Averted ''and'' played straight. The SawedOffShotgun is crazy deadly at close range, but significantly less so further away. The Pump Shotgun and Assault Shotgun are slightly less damaging, but have great range - not quite as good as the assault rifles, though. The SawedOffShotgun then gets trounced by the Heavy Shotgun, which combines the sawed-off's per-shot damage with even greater range than the next longest-reaching shotgun, the Bullpup Shotgun. This is because the weapon fires high-caliber slugs.
* SoftWater: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa_ABZLhLac This clip]] spectacularly illustrates this trope's aversion (though it should be noted that it shows someone attempting to fall into a shallow swimming pool; had the target been the ocean, the result would have been the same. In GTA IV it was possible to fall from such a height into a large body of water - though not a pool - and survive unharmed).
* SoundtrackDissonance: The radio can frequently lead to these moments, just like in past GTA games.
** West Coast Classics mostly plays hardcore west coast gangsta rap. But then there's Music/TooShort's "So You Wanna Be a Gangsta" and MC Eiht's [[Film/MenaceIISociety "Streiht-Up Menace"]], which really don't glorify the gangsta culture. Which is fitting, as the Too $hort and MC Eiht (as part of Compton's Most Wanted) songs featured in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'' didn't, either.
** Los Santos Rock Radio features a lot of laid-back soft rock. Music/{{Chicago}}'s "If You Leave Me Now" especially sticks out, except for [[spoiler: its use when Trevor has to drive Patricia Madrazo back home to Martin]]. Amusingly, much earlier in the game, the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes" starts to play as Trevor is in a rage, but he yells that "This music's ''all fuckin' wrong!''" and dodges this trope by switching the radio to Channel X's more mood-appropriate punk rock.
** Non-Stop-Pop FM is likely the biggest offender, allowing you to conduct violent criminal acts to songs like "[[Music/BackstreetBoys I Want It That Way]]". The same station also plays "[[Music/{{INXS}} New Sensation]]", which would have fitted better on Los Santos Rock Radio.
* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/GrandTheftAuto In this page.]]
* SuperCellReception: Your smartphone will work perfectly anywhere on the map, including subway tunnels, remote country roads surrounded by hills, the top of the tallest mountain in the state, or even in a submarine deep underwater.
** Strangely, however, GPS does not. Enter a tunnel and the GPS will cut out briefly.
* TakeCover: A much improved cover system from ''IV'' returns.
* TakeThat: Every website, show, movie, poster, commercial, not-plot-important line, and comment on the radio is an unfriendly dig or parody of something.
** [[Creator/FoxNewsChannel Weazel News]] is back, and as blunt as ever.
--->''Weazel News: Confirming Your Prejudices!''
** The [[{{Eagleland}} Republican Space Rangers]] return, once again keeping future America safe from encroaching feel-good socialism by becoming part of the "Coffee Grinder" political movement. They also gain a limousine-liberal counterpart in "Impotent Rage", a smug SmallNameBigEgo-type superhero who angrily derides those he disagrees with for being Neanderthals and brutes, yet solves all his problems with violence.
** The official website's travelogue for the Los Santos area contains [[http://www.rockstargames.com/V/lsbc/affordable-healthcare a slide]] advertising the city's healthcare. It notes that "Thanks to recent legislation, if you receive something as harmless as a scratch or as serious as a bullet wound, any of our state certified medical centers will patch you up and make sure the healthy bill is picked up by taxpayers", a possible take that at [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Obamacare]].
** While Blaine Country Talk Radio's Duane Earl is more of a general parody of conservative radio personalities (he usually sounds more like [[Radio/TrueCapitalist Ghost]] than Rush), the cooking program "Bless Your Heart" and its hostess Bobbi June are very obvious digs at celebrity chef Paula Deen.
** A parody of Website/{{Facebook}} called Lifeinvader, whose founder and CEO, Jay Norris, is a thin mix between Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs, who brags about how he has gotten rich on getting millions of people to voluntarily give up their private information. [[spoiler:In the single-player, one of the early missions has you blowing his head off on live TV with a bomb in a cell phone]].
** An internet advertisement for a book that is [[BlatantLies totally not]] ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' titled "Chains of Intimacy", that is soon to be a motion picture. The blurb reads as follows:
--->''Imagine if feminism never happened. Imagine a woman treated like a doormat covered with DNA. Imagine sex where she has to go to the hospital.''
** [[Website/{{Myspace}} MyRoom]], a very detailed website in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' has now virtually shut down because no one is going there anymore. What happened? [[Website/{{Facebook}} Lifeinvader]] happened.
** A lot of things in the game is a complete jab at pop culture staples, right from gamer's teabagging, to movies being green-screened more and more.
** Since this ''is'' a HollywoodCalifornia {{Expy}}, several potshots are aimed at [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed paper-thin parodies of celebrities]], and the StrawmanNewsMedia reporting about their lives. For example, [[http://www.rockstargames.com/V/lsbc/sightseeing-and-celebrity MC Clip]], a rapper who was reported to have held a 3-hour concert where he only spent 30 minutes actually performing, while he spent the other two-and-a-half hours [[ItsAllAboutMe preaching about how he is the most important American icon of the present]], is pretty much a CompositeCharacter of ''many'' modern rappers who frequently rant about how important they are.
** During one side mission, Michael smokes a joint of marijuana given to him by a legalization activist. His subsequent hallucination has him fighting aliens with a minigun in a purple haze, a likely reference to the purple-themed, alien-including ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' (''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' came out a month before GTA V). Made even funnier considering the marked gameplay similarities between GTA and the ''Saints Row'' series.
** Beverly is a TakeThat towards {{paparazzi}} and gossip journalists like Perez Hilton, who are obsessed with finding out every single detail of celebrities(even if it's through illegal means) and invading their private lives all for the purpose of "juicy" exclusive stories. Franklin calls Beverly out on this, asking him why he care so much what celebrities do in their own time and saying as much that it's none of their business.
** One news story on the radio talks about Los Santos' new "red and white" tram system costing billions of dollars and shutting down busy streets for years. This is a not-so-subtle dig at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Trams Edinburgh's trams]], which held up a number of busy streets, including Leith Walk, where Rockstar North's offices are located. In real life, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Rail_%28Los_Angeles_County%29 Los Angeles' subway system]] (the fact one even exists often surprises people) is also much-maligned.
** Michael says that FirstPersonShooter games are [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks "all the same."]]
** One political ad heard on the radio calls for laws making it mandatory that every man, woman and child should be armed to the teeth, in order to make Los Santos a safer place. Of course lampshaded by the many gunfights that seem to erupt at random throughout the game world, above and beyond what the player might decide to do between missions.
** "Toe Shoes" are a brand of foot-like shoes that are seen advertised throughout the game and are based on the RealLife Virbram [=FiveFingers=] which some people find tasteless and ugly. The advertisements clearly think so too with slogans like "Run like a caveman." and "Shoes for toes and twats."
* ThreateningShark: Among other animals, sharks appear in the game, and are quite dangerous if encountered.
* TooAwesomeToUse:
** Grenades and other explosive-based weapons can be this at times, due to their limited ammo capacities.
** The Karin Futo. While it is mostly based off the badass looking Toyota Corolla AE86, its tendency to drift makes it very hard to use with inexperienced drivers. It does, however give the benefit of being able to conserve a lot of speed around corners when drifting, which can make a big difference in races.
** The Hakuchou. It has amazing top speed, great acceleration (When modified) and can wheelie with ease, which makes the bike a great stunter and VERY fun to drive. The big downside? The handling. It often understeers around corners, doesn't corner very nicely around them, and has a very wide turning circle. This makes the bike, like the Futo, an expert's toy. Despite these problems, it is a very common bike in GTA Online, along with the Akuma (A streetfighter style acceleration rocket).
* TooFastToStop: A lot of the vehicles with high top speeds, but low traction and braking fall into this category. Most vehicles can be modded, but there is a limit to how much every model can be improved. The expensive Super vehicles, like the Cheetah, Entity, and Adder, as well as super-fast motorcycles like the Bati and Akuma, can have their amazing speed rendered completely useless as you skid, slide, and slam into everything in sight. Acquiring the aforementioned mods, and lowering the suspension will help somewhat, but players still need to be careful with elevation changes, because nothing can help you once you're airborne. Even a high Driving skill can't stop you from flying headfirst into a building.
* TookALevelInBadass: The cops in the [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV previous game]] frequently got attacked for their [[ArtificialStupidity almost hilariously bad AI]]. This game's cops are far more aggressive, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard make far more impossibly good shots]], and are much better at hounding you. If you decide to play sniper from a rooftop, better make sure there isn't a way to climb up nearby.
* UnorthodoxReload: The reload animation for the pump, sawn-off, and bullpup shotguns shows the player inserting only one shell, regardless of how many the player fired.
* WantedMeter: Going up to five stars instead of the traditional six. The system has been improved over IV, making the police search area less rigid and harder to evade, and giving the player new options - for instance, changing cars without the police seeing will allow you to drive right through the vision range doing anything that wouldn't get you one star normally. [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything Until they find where you dumped the old car, anyway, at which point they get really jumpy.]]
** You can even avoid line of sight with a little luck on a moving freeway if the police are moving on the opposite side from you and you can keep a semi truck or bus or other large vehicle between you and their sight line. Line of sight avoidance also works with parking garages.
* WideOpenSandbox: It's ''GTA'', of course. The sandboxing is taken to a new level, with a slew of incidental side missions and random encounters to find. It's also the first non-DLC console GTA to not have a BrokenBridge in the single-player, so the complete map is open from the start. After the game's initial release there were forum reports of players spending weeks just exploring the map before even starting the storyline missions.
* WouldHitAGirl: Aside from the fact any computer-controlled character is fair game if you want to play ti that way, in GTA V there are also female cops. While GTA IV had the voices of female police officers, only male cops ever appeared on screen. In GTA V if you get into a gunfight with the police, odds are some of your victims will be female.
* WorstAid: Paramedics are completely useless in this game. Whenever there's a pile of limp bodies lying around on the street, they'll just inspect them, immediately conclude that they're all dead, even if they were simply knocked out in a fight, and just leave the bodies there.
